T I'll b (). i{AFHICA-Lr^ y-gimimmmiim^i: Cornell Untversity Library KDC 310.S43 Scottish bar fifty years ago 3 1924 024 629 853 f J The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024629853 THE SCOTTISH BAR FIFTY YEAES AGO. SKETCHES OF SCOTT AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. BY THE LATE ROBERT/ SCOTT-jMONCRIEFF, Esq. ^"^"^ ADVOCATE. WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES By G. B. EDINBURGH: ANDREW ELLIOT, 17 PRINCES STREET. \l^o^<^f PREFACE. In presenting to the Public, and especially to the members of the Scottish Bar, a series of portraits illustrative of its aspect fifty years ago, a very few words of introduction will suffice. The original draw- ings were executed, with one exception, between the years 1816 and 1820, by the late Robert Scott Moncrieff, Esq. of Fossaway, Advocate ; and were highly esteemed by Sir Henry Raeburn, to whom some of them were shown, and by other good judges. He was often requested to publish them, — but in vain. His family feel, however, that the time has now come when this may be done with advantage to the public, and they are glad to think that it has been accomplished in such a manner as to do justice to the work of a beloved and revered Parent. Biographical notices of high literary value have been supplied from the best sources by the kindness of a friend, himself a member of the Faculty, whose name at once commands respect, and guarantees the accuracy of his part of the work. The Centenary of Sir Walter Scott gives present interest to a work which shows that great man in the capacity in which he was for many years best known in his ' own romantic town,' — acting as Clerk of Session, and placed among his distinguished contemporaries on the Bench and at the Bar, few of whom at that time knew the secret of the wonderful sheets which passed rapidly from his pen, while he was apparently engaged in taking diligent notes of their speeches. The task of photographing the portraits has been entrusted to Mr Annan of Glasgow, who has reproduced them with wonderful success. PREFACE. It only remains to be stated that any profits from this work, after deducting necessary expenses, will be made over to the widow of one intimately connected with the name of Scott, the* Architect of his Monument. Her circumstances are unfortunately such as to render this desirable, and it would have been as much in accordance with the benevolent heart of the Poet, as of his whose pencil has preserved his features in this volume, to assist by every means in their power -one so deserving of the liberality of the Edinburgh public, as Mrs Kemp, whose misfortunes give her a claim on their compassion, and to whose husband their city is indebted for one of its finest ornaments. Edinburgh, Aug. 1871. CONTENTS. I. CLAUD IRVINE BOSWELL, LORD BALMUTO. II. DAVID DOUGLAS, LORD RESTON. III. SIR WM. MILLER, BART., LORD GLENLEE. IV. D. WILLIAMSON ROBERTSON EWART, LORD BALGRAY. V. DAVID MONYPENNY, LORD PITMILLY. VI. ADAM GILLIES, LORD GILLIES. VII., VIIL, IX., X. JOHN CLERK, LORD ELDIN. XI. MATTHEW ROSS. XII. SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. XIII. GEORGE CRANSTOUN, LORD COREHOUSE. XIV. XV. FRANCIS JEFFREY, LORD JEFFREY. XVL HENRY COCKBURN, LORD COCKBURN. XVII. JAMES WEDDERBURN. XVIII. ROBERT FORSYTH. XIX. ROBERT CORBET. XX. JAMES MILLAR. XXI. PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON. XXII. JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART. XXIIL MUNGO P. BROWN. XXIV. ANDREW SKENE. XXV. ROBERT HANNAY. i CONTENTS. XXVI. JOSEPH HUME. XXVII. JAMES BROWNLEE. XXVIII. JAMES MACONOCHIE. XXIX. JOHN BOYD GREENSHIELDS. XXX. HENRY BIGGAR. XXXI. PATRICK ROBERTSON, LORD ROBERTSON. XXXII. SIR JAMES GIBSON CRAIG, BART. XXXIII. HUGH WARRENDER. XXXIV. WILLIAM GIBB. XXXV. BURKE AND M'DOUGALL. XXXVL LISTON as ' DOMINIE SAMPSON.' » CLAUD IRVINE BOSWELL. • LORD BALMUTO. Son of John Boswell of Balmuto, writer in EdijibuKg^h, younger son of David Boswell of Auchinleck. Born 1 742 ; adnytted to the bar 1 766 ; Sheriff of Fife 1780; promoted to a seat on the bench 1799; which lite resigned 1822; died 1824 in his 83d year. He married in 1783 Miss Anne Irvine, eventually heiress of Kingcausie in Aberdeenshire, and had, besides two daughters, a son, the late John Irvine Boswell, Esq., of King- causie and Balmuto. The estate of Balmuto in Fife, originally acquired by the Boswells in the beginning of the fifteenth century, through marriage with the daughter and co-heir of Sir John Glen, was purchased by Lord Balmuto's father from the representative of the elder line of the family in 1722. The Boswell family had previously contributed a judge to the Court of Session — Alex. Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, Cousin-German of Lord Balmuto, (though greatly his senior,) the father of Samuel Johnson's biographer. , Lord Balmuto was about the latest survivor of the old school of judges, and his exhibitions on the bench were often of a somewhat droll kind. " On one occasion a young Counsel was addressing him on some not very important point that had arisen in a division of common (or commonty, according to law phraseology,) when having made some bold argument, Balmuto exclaimed "That's a lee, Jamie." "My Lord," ejaculated the amazed barrister. "Ay, ay, Jamie, I see by your face you're leeing." "Indeed, my Lord, I am not." "Dinnatell me that, it's no in your memorial (brief;) awa wi you;" and overcome with astonishment and vexation, the discomfited barrister left the bar. Balmuto thereupon chuckled with infinite delight ; and beckoning to the clerk who attended on the occasion, he said, 'Are ye no Rabbie H 's man?' 'Yes, my Lord.' 'Was na Jamie leeing?' 'Oh no, my lord.' 'Ye're quite sure?' 'Oh yes.' 'Then LORD BALMUTO. just write out what you want, and I'll sign it. My faith, but I made Jamie stare.' So the decision was dictated by the clerk, and duly signed by the judge, who left the bench highly diverted with the fright he had given his young friend." — Kays Portraits. If Lord Balmuto was not a good lawyer, his worth and benevolence were undeniable. He is here represented at about the age of seventy-seven. A vigorous athletic man, he carried a good deal of the energy of his earlier years into his old age. . DAVID DOUGLAS. LORD RESTON. Son of Col. Robert Douglas of Strathenry, co. Fife. He was admitted to the bar 1791 ; married in 1805 Elizabeth, daughter of John Craigie of Glendoick, by whom he left a family ; was made Sheriff of Berwickshire in 1809, and advanced to the bench in 1813. He was a man of mild, simple, unassuming manners, a sound, hardworking counsel, and a conscientious, painstaking judge. Lord Reston died very suddenly in 18 19, at Glendoick, where he had gone to pay a visit to his brother-in-law, Major Craigie, be- fore opening the Circuit at Perth. He was interred in the Canongate Churchyard, in the tomb of Dr Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations, who was his near relation, the philosopher's mother having been a Douglas of Strathenry. The Douglases of Strathenry were a branch of the Morton family, descended from Sir Archibald Douglas of Kirkness, a younger son of the fifth Lord Morton, who, in the seventeenth century, got Strathenry by marriage with the heiress, a Forrester. SIR WILLIAM MILLER, Ba^t. LORD GLENLEE. Son of Sir Thomas Miller of Glenlee and Barskimming, Lord President of the Court of Session, who was created a Baronet in 1788.. The family had for two or three generations owned the lands of Barskimming in the county of Ayr, and Glenlee in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Lord Glenlee was born in 1756, and admitted to the bar in 1777. In 1780 he was returned member for Edinburgh in opposition to Sir Laurence Dundas of Kerse, Bart., and took his seat in Parliament ; but he was unseated on a petition, and his opponent declared duly elected. In 1 791 he was appointed a Lord of Session. He resigned his seat in 1840 and died in 1846, in his ninetieth year. " After a short course of early travel, and an abortive attempt in parliament, he settled at the bar, and devoted the rest of his long life entirely to study. He was made a judge when still young, and after so little practice that he had to learn his law on the bench. Talent and industry, however, soon placed him high among profound and learned lawyers. But though deep in legal knowledge, and most ingenious in its application, law was not the highest of his spheres. His favourite and most successful pursuit was mathematics ; on which John Play fair, a very competent judge, used to say that he had original speculations, which, if given to the world, would have raised him to an eminent place among the best modern contributors to that science. Next to this was his classical learning, which gradually extended to a general, but pretty accurate, acquaintance with the languages and literature of France, Spain, and Italy, and in his extreme old age, of Germany. His conversation, as described by the two or three friends who were his world, was full of thought, and curious original views. A lover of knowledge for its own sake, and with a memory tenacious of the substance of truth, he not only systematically 3 LORD GLEN LEE. augmented his learning, but continued the improvement even of his faculties when far beyond the period of Hfe at which the mental powers begin, or are generally permitted to decline. Jeffrey visited him at his country-seat in August 1842, when he was eighty-seven, and wrote to a friend that ' He is very deaf and walks feebly, but his mind is as entire and vigorous as ever. When I came in he was in the middle of a great new treatise on the pro- perties of the ellipse, which he has just got from Germany ' He has gone without rearing any memorial to himself, except the inadequate one that is furnished by the law reports ; and even in giving judicial opinions, depth, brevity, and an odd delivery made his excellences less per- ceptible than those of far inferior men. " His appearance was striking, and very expressive of his intellect and habits. The figure was slender, the countenance pale, but with a full dark eye ; the features regular, unless when disturbed, as the whole frame often was, by little jerks and gesticulations, as if he was under frequent galvan- ism ; his air and manner polite. Everything indicated the philosophical and abstracted gentleman. And another thing which added to his peculi- arity was that he never used an English word when a Scotch one could be got." — Cockdurn's Life of yeffrey* Down to about 1830, Lord Glenlee persevered in the old practice, disused by the other judges, of walking from his house to the Court dressed in his judicial robes, his wig well powdered, and his cocked hat in hand. After that date he betook himself to a sedan chair. Down to his death in 1846, he had his town residence in the antiquated locality of Brown Square. Lord Glenlee married in 1778 Grizel, daughter of George Chalmers, Esq. The present Baronet, Sir Thomas Macdonald Miller is his great- grandson, * The quotations in this and other instances are made by the kind permission of the owners of the copyright of the different works referred to. DAVID WILLIAMSON ROBERTSON EWART. LORD BALGRAY. Son of Alexander Williamson, factor to the Earl of Hopetoun ; Advocate 1783; Sheriff of Stirling and Clackmannan 1797; reappointed Sheriff of Stirling 1807 ; raised to the bench 181 1, died 1837. In consequence of his marriage with the niece and heiress of General Archibald Robertson of Lawers, he assumed that lady's surname ; and the further addition of Ewart arose from a lady of that name having granted him a liferent conveyance of her estate. He was an acute sound-headed lawyer : his judicial opinions always shewed study and deliberation, and were delivered forcibly and decidedly. A handsome dignified looking man, with sparkling eyes, compressed mouth, and regular features, he looked quite the picture of a judge. At times he had a difficulty in repressing his inclination to enforce some judicial dictum by an oath, a habit more largely indulged in by Lord Karnes in the former generation, and by Lord Eldin among Balgray's contemporaries. Otherwise his language, though full of Scotticisms, was Scotch of the more refined type. By his marriage with Miss Robertson, Lord Balgray had no family, and his very considerable wealth was inherited by the family of a brother, who had settled in America. DAVID MONYPENNY. LORD PITMILLY. Born 1769; admitted to the bar 1791 ; Sheriff of Fife 1807; Solicitor- General 181 1 ; promoted to the bench 181 3 ; nominated one of the Lords Commissioners of the Jury Court at its institution in 181 5 ; resigned his seat on the bench in 1830, and died in 1851. Lord Pitmilly was the eldest son of Colonel Alexander Monypenny, of Pitmilly, in the County of Fife, an estate which had been owned by the family since the thirteenth century. He was reputed an excellent judge, both by the profession and the public. Unlike some of his brethren, he rarely interrupted Counsel, generally hearing their argument to the end, however tedious. According to the old forms of process which were in use when he was Lord Ordinary, the unsuccessful litigant was allowed to put in what was termed a representation, enabling the judge to review his decision, and it is asserted that Lord Pitmilly never changed an opinion once given. It was alleged that his knowledge of dramatic literature did not extend beyond Home's Douglas, and that when he ventured on a quotation, which was not often, it was always from that once popular tragedy. " This judge has the most delightful expression of gravity and patience in his look and manner that I ever saw in any judge, except it be our own venerable old Chancellor Eldon. The calm conscientious way in which he seemed to listen to everything that was said, the mild good-tempered smile with which he shewed every now and then that he was not to be deceived by any subtilty or quirk, and the clear and distinct manner in which he ex- plained the grounds of his decision, left me at no loss to account for the extraordinary pressure of business with which this excellent judge appeared to be surrounded." — Petet's Letters to his Kinsfolk. Lord Pitmilly married in 18 10 Maria Sophia, third daughter of Sir George Abercromby, of Birkenbog, Bart, but left no issue. His younger brother, William Tankerville Monypenny, Esq., who succeeded him in Pit- milly, and died in 1 869, also without issue, conveyed that estate to a friend and namesake, the Rev. James Isaac Monypenny, vicar of Hadlow, Kent. S ADAM GILLIES. LORD GILLIES. Sixth son of Robert Gillies, of Little Keithock, Forfarshire, and youngest brother of Dr. John Gillies, the historian of Greece and Historiographer of Scotland, was born at Brechin 1766, admitted to the bar 1787, Sheriff of Kincardineshire 1806, raised to the bench 181 1, one of the Commissioners of the Jury Court 181 6, and died at Leamington on the 24th December 1842. Possessed of a vigorous, comprehensive intellect, and great legal acumen, Gillies early rose to distinction. In the early part of his career he was a zealous adherent of the Whig party, and the first public appearance in which he distinguished himself was as counsel for Joseph Gerald, tried before the High Court of Justiciary for sedition in 1794. It was, however, to his political opponents that he owed his elevation to the bench. " His Lordship was remarkable for the facility with which he disen- tangled the intricacies of an involved case, and placed whatever was relevant in lucid order before the Court. It was a genuine treat to hear his Lord- ship address his brethren, bringing out, bit by bit, the facts, and then applying the law. He would, after a hearing before the whole Court, which had occupied many days, and after speeches from the Counsel on either side, in the short space of twenty minutes, extract the essence of the debate with a clearness that carried conviction with it. The only pause ■was when he tapped his snuff-box, to which he usually had recourse once or twice during the delivery of his speech. " His Lordship held long speeches in detestation, and some advocates, who had the cacoethes loquendi, had not the tact to abridge their orations when addressing him He occasionally carried his aversion to long speeches too far. The late Thomas Walker Baird, who, John Clerk used to say, was the next lawyer to himself at the bar who knew anything about feudal titles, was once pleading a case of the kind before him. After he 6 LORD GILLIES. had stated the facts, which Gillies at once mastered, he proceeded with his argument, which threatened to be very prolix. Gillies interrupted him, saying, ' I understand the case thoroughly, Mr Baird, and have already made up my mind against your client.' ' My Lord,' said Baird, ' I have not concluded my argument, and you are bound to hear me out.' ' But,' rejoined the Judge, ' this is really a waste of time. Macer ! call the next cause.' ' Stop,' exclaimed Baird, ' Macer, call the Dean of Faculty.' Gillies saw his error at once, ' Go on, Mr Baird.' He accordingly did go on, but the result may be anticipated. Gillies, during the remainder of the argu- ment threw himself back in his chair, and allowed the learned advocate to speak as long as he pleased — the only thing like an interruption being a hearty yawn, which did not in the least disconcert the speaker. At last the argument terminated, when his Lordship merely said, ' Mr Baird, I have now heard you fully out, but regret to say, I still retain my original opinion.' " — Notes to Court of Session Garland. The following remarks on Gillies, as Lord Ordinary, are from Peter's Letters : — "He has at first sight an air of laziness about him, and seems as if he grudged the labour of lifting up his eyes to view the countenance of the person addressing him. But every now and then he muttered some short question or remark, which showed abundantly that his intellect was awake to all the intricacies of the case, and I could see that when the Advocates have done, he had no difficulty in separating the essence of the plea from all the adventitious matter with which their briefs had instructed them to clog and embarrass it. He has a countenance very expressive of acumen, and a pair of the finest black eyes I ever saw, although he commonly keeps them half-shrouded under their lids." Lord Gillies married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Carnegie, Esq. of Craigo, but had no family. JOHN CLERK. LORD ELDIN. Born 1757, admitted to the bar 1785, appointed Solicitor General 1806, raised to the bench in 1823, resigned in 1828 and died unmarried in 1832. His father, John Clerk of Eldin, a man of great scientific acquirements, and the author of an important work on naval tactics, was a younger son of Sir John Clerk of Penicuick. " I remember," observed he on one occasion to Lord Cockburn, " the time when people, seeing John limping on the street, used to ask what lame lad that was ? and the answer would be, that's the son of Clerk of Eldin. But now, when I myself am passing, I hear them saying, what auld greyheaded man is that ? and the answer is, that's the father of John Clerk." He was much prouder, adds Cock- burn, of the last remark than of the first. John Clerk the lawyer was a man of acute vigorous intellect, rose speedily in his profession, and is said at one time to have had nearly half the business of the court in his hands. He is thus graphically described by Cockburn : — " A contracted limb, which made him pitch when he walked, and only admitted of his standing erect by hanging it in the air, added to the peculi- arity of a figure with which so many other ideas of oddity were connected. Blue eyes, very bushy eyebrows, coarse grizzly hair, always in disorder, and firm, projecting features, made his face and head not unlike that of a thoroughbred shaggy terrier. It was a countenance of great thought and great decision. " Had his judgment been equal to his talent, few powerful men could have stood before him, for he had a strong, working, independent, ready head, which had been improved by various learning, extending beyond his profession into the fields of general literature, and into the arts of painting and sculpture. Honest, warm-hearted, generous, and simple, he was a 7, 8, 9, 10 LORD EL DIN. steady friend, and of the most touching affection in all the domestic rela- tions. The whole family was deeply marked by an hereditary caustic humour, and none of its members more than he. " These excellences, however, were affected by certain peculiarities, or habits, which segregated him from the whole human race. " One of these was an innocent admiration both of his own real merits and achievements, and of all the supposed ones which his simplicity ascribed to himself He was saved from the imputation of vanity in this, by the sincerity of the delusion. Without any boasting or airs of superiority, he would expatiate on his own virtues with a quiet placidity, as if he had no concern in the matter, but only wished others to know what they should admire. This infantine self-deification would have been more amus- ing had it not encouraged another propensity, the source of some of his more serious defects — ^an addiction, not in words merely, but in conduct, to paradox. He did not announce his dogmas, like the ordinary professors of paradox, for surprise or argument, but used to insist upon them with a calm, slow, dogged obstinacy, which at least justified the honesty of his acting upon them. And this tendency was aggravated, in its turn, by a third rather painful weakness : which, of all the parts in his character, was the one which his friends would have liked most to change, — jealousy of rivalship, and a kindred impatience of contradiction. This introduced the next stage, when confidence in his own infallibility ascribed all opposition to doubts of his possessing this quality, and thus inflamed a spirit which, however serene when torpid, was never trained to submission, and could rise into fierceness when chafed. " Of course it was chafed every moment at the bar, and accordingly it was there that his other and inferior nature appeared. Every consideration was lost in eagerness for the client, whose merit lay in this, that he has relied upon me, John Clerk. Nor was his the common zeal of a counsel. It was a passion. He did not take his fee, plead the cause well, hear the result, and have done with it ; but gave the client his temper, his perspiration, his nights, his reason, his whole body and soul, and very often the fee to boot. His real superiority lay in his legal learning and his hard reasoning. But he would have been despicable in his own sight had he reasoned without defying and insulting the adversary and the unfavourable judges ; the last of whom he always felt under a special call to abuse, because they were not merely obstructing justice, but thwarting him. So that pugnacity was his LORD ELDIN. line. His whole session was one keen and truceless conflict; in which more irritating matter was introduced than could have been ventured upon by any one except himself, whose worth was known, and whose intensity was laughed at as one of the shows of the court. " Neither in speaking, nor in anything else, was he at all entangled with the graces ; but his manner was always sensible and natural. An utterance as slow as minute guns, and a poor diction, marked his unexcited state, in one of his torpid moods ; but when roused, which was his more common condition, he had the command of a strong abrupt, colloquial style, which, either for argument or for scorn, suited him much better than any other sort of eloquence would have done. Very unequal, no distinguished counsel made so many bad appearances. But then he made many admirable ones, and always redeemed himself out of the bad ones, by displays of great depth and ability. And his sudden rallies, when, after being refuted and run down, he stood at bay, and either covered his escape or died scalping, were unmatched in dexterity and force. A number of admirably written argu- ments, on profound legal difficulties, will sustain his reputation in the sight of every lawyer who will take the very useful trouble of instructing himself by the study of these works. It was his zeal, however, which of all low qualities is unfortunately the one that is most prized in the daily market of the bar, that chiefly upheld him when in his glory ; and as this fiery quality must cool with age, he declined some years before he withdrew. " His popularity was increased by his oddities. Even in the midst of his frenzies, he was always introducing some original and quaint humour; so that there are few of the lights of the court of whom more sayings and stories are prevalent. Even in his highest fits of disdainful vehemence, he would pause, lift his spectacles to his brow, erect himself, and after indicating its approach by a mantling smile, would relieve himself, and cheer the audience by some diverting piece of Clerkism ; and then, before the laugh was well over, another gust would be up. He, and his consulting room, withdrew the attention of strangers from the cases on which they had come to hear their fate. Walls covered with books and pictures, of both of which he had a large collection ; the floor encumbered with little ill-placed tables, each with a piece of old china on it ; strange boxes, bits of sculpture, curious screens and chairs, cats and dogs, (his special favourites), and all manner of trash, dead and living, and all in confusion ; John himself sitting in the midst of this museum, in a red worsted night-cap, his crippled limb resting horizon- LORD EL DIN. tally on a tripod stool, and many pairs of spectacles and antique snuff-boxes on a small table at his right hand ; and there he sits, perhaps dreaming awake, probably descanting on some of his crotchets, and certainly abusing his friends the judges, when recalled to the business in hand ; but generally giving acute and vigorous advice," — Cockburn's Life of Jeffrey. In politics Clerk was a keen whig, and when Solicitor General, was sufficiently ill-advised to endeavour to put a stop to the public illum- ination on the occasion of Lord Melville's acquittal. " There is one story told of him, the truth of which there is no reason to question, that during a hearing before, the Inner house, when his opponent, either John Jardine or James Gordon of Craig, -quoted a host of authorities, consisting principally of foreign Jurists — ^John rose to answer. He remarked that his learned brother had quoted many eminent writers on the civil law. Observing the late John Philip Wood — the Editor of D.ouglas' Peerage, who was dumb, standing beside him, he continued, ' But there was one civilian entirely overlooked by his learned brother, whose opinion would outweigh all those quoted on the other side, and it was sufficient for him to offer the opinion of the illustrious Dum- wooderus.' What that opinion was he did not venture to state, as he proceeded with his argument, throwing over altogether the jurists, and merely remarking that, having good authority at home for what he main- tained was law, there was no occasion to look for it elsewhere. "The best part of the joke was — that while the judges took no exception to the great Dumwooderus — his opponent rose and apologized for having overlooked this distinguished lawyer, whose great merits he fully appreci- ated and admitted — still he inclined to think, as Mr Clerk had not ventured to quote any of his dicta, this omission created a reasonable presumption that his opinion was pretty much the same as that expressed by the other civilians. He then made a profound bow to the Court and to his learned friend. Having done so, he took his seat, rejoicing that he had extinguished the authority of Dumwooderus." — Court of Session Garland. Clerk amassed a large collection of paintings and prints, which were sold at his house in Picardy Place soon after his death, and the sale was memorable from an accident which occurred at it. The floor of the draw- ing-room gave way, and the purchasers were precipitated into the story below, many being injured, and one Mr Smith, banker in Edinburgh, killed by the fall. LORD ELDIN. The following description of his appearance at the bar is taken from Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk : — " By theunanimous consent of his brethren, and indeed of the whole of the profession, he is the present Coryphaeus of the bar. .... The essence of his character is scorn of ornament and utter loathing of affectation. He is the plainest, the shrewdest, and the most sarcastic of men ; his sceptre owes the whole of its power to its weight — nothing to glitter. " It is impossible to imagine a physiognomy more expressive of the character of a great lawyer and barrister. The features are in themselves good — at least a painter would call them so ; and the upper part of the pro- file has as fine lines as could be wished. But then, how the habits of the mind have stamped their traces on every part of the face ! What sharp- ness, what razor-like sharpness, has indented itself about the wrinkles of his eye-lids ; the eyes themselves so quick, so gray, such bafflers of scrutiny, such exquisite scrutinizers, how they change their expression — it seems almost how they change their colour — shifting from contracted, concentrated blackness, through every shade of brown, blue, green, and hazel, back into their own open, gleaming gray again ! How they glisten into a smile of disdain ! — Aristotle says, that all laughter springs from emotions of con- scious superiority. — I never saw the Stagyrite so well illustrated, as in the smile of this gentleman. He seems to be affected with the most delightful and balmy feelings, by the contemplation of some soft-headed, prosing driveller, racking his poor brain, or bellowing his lungs out — ^all about something which he, the smiler, sees through so thoroughly, so distinctly. Blunder follows blunder; the mist thickens about the brain of the bewildered hammerer ; and every plunge of the bog-trotter — every deepen- ing shade of his confusion — is attested by some more copious infusion of Sardonic suavity, into the horrible, ghastly, grinning smile of the happy Mr Clerk. How he chuckles over the solemn spoon whom he hath fairly got into his power ! When he rises, at the conclusion of his display, he seems to collect himself like a kite above a covey of partridges ; he is in no hurry to come down, but holds his victims " with a glittering eye," and smiles sweetly, and yet more sweetly, the bitter assurance of their coming fate ; then out he stretches his arm, as the kite may his wing, and changing the smile by degrees into a frown, and drawing down his eyebrows from their altitude among the wrinkles of his forehead, and making them to hang like fringes quite over his diminishing and brightening eyes, and mingling a 7. 8, 9. lo LORD ELDIN. tincture of deeper scorn in the wave of his lips, and projecting his chin, and iSuffusing his whole face with the very livery of wrath, how he pounces with a scream upon his prey — and, may the Lord have mercy upon their un- happy souls ! — " He is so sure of himself, and he has the happy knack of seeming to be so sure of his case, that the least appearance of labour, or concern, or nicety of arrangement, or accuracy of expression, would take away from the impos- ing- effect of his cool, careless, scornful, and determined negligence. "Even the greatest of his opponents sit as it were rebuked before his gaze of intolerable derision. But careless and scornful as he is, what a display of skilfulness in the way of putting his statements ; what command of intellect in the strength with which he deals the irresistible blows of his arguments. It is truly a delightful thing to be a witness of this mighty intellectual gladiator, scattering everything before him, like a king upon his old accustomed arena ; with an eye swift as lightning to discover the unguarded point of his adversary, and a hand steady as iron to direct his weapon, and a mask of impenetrable stuff, that throws back, like a rock, the prying gaze that would dare to retaliate upon his own lynx-like penetration — ^what a champion is here ! It is no wonder that every litigant in this covenanting land should have learned to look on it as a mere tempting of Providence to omit retaining John Clerk. "As might be expected from a man of his standing in years and in talent, this great advocate disdains to speak any other than the language of his own country. I am not sure, indeed, but there may be some little tinge of affectation in this pertinacious adherence to both the words and the music of his Doric dialect." Of a multitude of anecdotes regarding his Scottish dialect one relates to his pronunciation of the word ' enough ' as ' enow ' when pleading before the House of Lords. " Pardon me, Mr Clerk," said the Lord Chancellor, " but we pronounce o.u.g.h as ' uff.' " " Well, my Lord," proceeded Clerk, " there was a pluffgate of land belonging to my client. A pluffgate, my Lord, is as much land as a single pluffman can pluff in a day." " Mr Clerk," rejoined the Chancellor, " you may as well resume your ' enow.' " " John Clerk was arguing a Scotch appeal case before the House of Lords. His client claimed the use of a millstream by a prescriptive right. Mr Clerk argued that " the waiter had rin that way for forty years. In- deed, naebody kenned how long, and why should his client now be LORD ELDIN. deprived of the waiter ? " &c. The Chancellor, in a rather bantering tone,' asked him, " Mr Clerk, do you spell water in Scotland with two t's ? " Clerk, a little nettled at this hit at his national tongue, answered, " Na, my Lord, we dinna spell watter (making the word as short as he could) wi' twa t's, but we spell mainners (making the word as long as he could ) wi' twa n's." — Dean Ramsay's Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character. " His defence of a young friend, who was an advocate, and had incurred the displeasure of the judges, has often been repeated. Mr Clerk had been called upon to offer his apologies for disrespect, or implied disrespect, in his manner of addressing the Bench. The advocate had given great offence by expressing his ' astonishment ' at something which had emanated from their Lordships, implying by it his disapproval. He got Lord Eldin, who was connected with him, to make an apology for him. But Clerk could not resist his humorous vein by very equivocally adding, ' my client has expressed his astonishment, my Lords, at what he had met with here ; if my young friend had known the Court as long as I have, he would have been astonished at nothing.' — I6icl. " When Clerk got his letter appointing him a Lord of Session, he was most courteously received in the robing room by the Lord President, who congratulated him on his appointment, regretting at the same time, that he had been so long before he was placed on the roll of judges. Clerk, after thanking the President, concluded by observing, " The fact is, my Lord, government did not think me, until now, sufficiently doited for a seat upon the bench ! " — Court of Session Garland. " With his crotchets and his tendency to torpidity, when not excited. Clerk could not perhaps ha'^ made a safe judge at any time ; but it was a severe trial to be promoted in his sixty-fifth year, and when his vigour had begun to ebb. He had drawn more money than any man had ever done at the Scotch bar, probably not under ;^ 100,000 in the last twenty years of his energy. But pictures, books, hospitality, charity, and general bad management left him a poor man after all. People could not believe their ears when they heard that John Clerk was to go, or was to get, upon the bench. They could not think of him except as a man who was bom to tear and snarl at judges. In the wiry uncombed locks, breaking out from below the wig, and the shrewd sensible face, the contracted limb, and the strong arms, they saw the traces of a thousand tough battles ; and could not believe that these were all over, and that John was henceforth only to LORD ELDIN. be seen seated, decorously, on a high place. The Court was unusually crowded when he took his seat. As he was limping from the floor to the bench, an old agent, who remembered other days, was overheard ejaculat- ing to himself — ' Eh ! is he gaain' up amang them ! ' He expected a worry the instant that the wolf got among the lambs. Clerk was a warning to all counsel to beware of leaning on violent energy as their permanent staff. It is attractive to clients, and therefore does vulgarly well for a certain time. But, among other misfortunes, it is necessarily temporary. It does not become grey hairs ; and though it did, old blood can't keep it up." — Cockburn's Memorials of his Time. Mr Scott Moncrieff's admirable and characteristic representations of Clerk in four entirely distinct phases, are among the most valuable portraits in the series. Aided by the descriptive sketches of Cockburn and Lockhart, they will enable the present generation to form some notion of what manner of person this very singular man was. MATTHEW ROSS. DEAN OF FACULTY. Son of a Depute Clerk of Session. Admitted to the bar 1772 ; elected Dean of Faculty 1808 ; died unmarried 1823. " He was a most curious creature. A worthy, innocent man, and a very great Chamber Counsel, but with not a particle of worldly knowledge except what he got from law cases, and from novels, of .which he was a great devourer. He had very extensive practice with the pen and .the head, which brought him a respectable fortune. His tongue never produced a guinea, for he equalled his blushing brother Rolland in bashfulness. Learned in every department of the law, a clear and rather elegant legal writer, and of the deepest and most inventive ingenuity, our judicial records contain no arguments more deserving of study by any one who is anxious to instruct his understanding, or to improve his taste, from the fountains of a great master. He was one of the Pundits who cannot be pushed forward. Office, even on the bench, had no attraction for a legal monk, who dined in solitude at least 360 times a year, and who could not be looked at with- out his face becoming pink. He was so distressingly shy and awkward, that, when George the Fourth was here, he had to be deposed for the nonce from the Deanship in favour of Lord Lauderdale, because the attempt to deliver an address from the Faculty must have killed him. The rough and changing world got tired of his timidity, and his practice left him while his powers were still entire. His glory and his luxury was in a legal doubt. Sir Harry Moncreiff once made him give two opposite opinions in one day, on the same case, by changing the names, and hinting a difficulty. Matthew instantly followed the false scent, and without see- ing that the cases were identical, hunted himself down. How often have I seen the little short body, with his thin powdered hair, his silk-clad bits of legs and silver-buckled toes, sitting in his evening chair, in his little room MATTHEW ROSS. in Queen street, with his blushing cheeks and cunning eyes, reasoning him- self into no result except that the matter on which he was consulted was all doubts, on each of which he would have a still finer and deeper doubt, till at last he would good-naturedly acquiesce in some practical man's pro- posal that we should all keep our thumbs on these doubts, and that neither the Court nor the opposite party would dream of them — which they very rarely did." — Cockburn's Memorials of his Time. " Naturally of a thoughtful habit, matters of very small importai¥:e fre- quently provoked the most serious deliberation. Having been requested on one occasion to add his signature in his official capacity to a circular letter, after writing his name, he laid the sheet down on the desk, and closing his eyes, appeared for some time to be engaged in profound medita- tion. Mr Gibb, one of the depute librarians, at length remarked that all he had to do was to write ' D. F.' after his name. That is the very thing I was thinking of said Mr Ross, whether to make it ' D. F.' or ' Dean of Faculty. ' " — Kay's Portraits. SIR WALTER SCOTT, Bart. OF ABBOTSFORD. Third son of Walter Scott, Writer to the Signet (descended from the Scotts of Raeburn, co. Dumfries, sprung from the Harden branch of the Scott family) by Anne, eldest daugh. of Dr John Rutherford, Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh. Born in the College Wynd, Edinburgh, 15th August, 1771 ; educated at the High School and Uni- versity of Edinburgh, admitted to the bar 1792, married in 1797 to Charlotte Margaret Carpenter, of F.rench extraction, daughter ©f Jean Charpentier of Lyons ; made Sheriff of Selkirk 1 799, and Principal Clerk of Session 1805; a Baronet 1820; died at Abbotsford 21st Sept. 1832, buried at Dryburgh Abbey. Scott's earliest work, a translation of Burger's ballads, Lenore and The Wild Huntsman, appeared in 1 796, his Border Minstrelsy in 1 802-3, and he first became famous by The Lay of the Last Minstrel, in 1805. His poems during the next ten years included, among others, Marmion (1808), the Lady of the Lake (i 8 ro), and the Lord of the Isles (i 8 1 5). Waverley came out anonymously in 1814 ; and the authorship of it and of the series of romances that had followed it, was first openly avowed by Scott at the Theatrical Fund Dinner, on the 23rd of February 1827, his pecuniary reverses then necessitating a disclosure of the state of his affairs. The purchase of Abbotsford began in 181 1, but Abbotsford House was not completed till 1824. On the death of Scott's son. Sir Walter, second baronet, without issue, the title became extinct. Abbotsford was inherited by Scott's grandson, Walter Scott Lockhart, son of his elder daughter, Charlotte Sophia, who married Mr J. G. Lockhart, and after his death in 1853, by Scott's only remaining grandchild, Charlotte Harriet Jane Lockhart, who was married to James Robert Hope Scott, Q.C., second son of Gen. the Hon. Sir Alexander SIR WALTER SCOTT. Hope, G.CB. That lady died 20th Oct. 1858, and her only surviving child, a daughter, is now the sole descendant of Sir Walter Scott. Mr Hope Scott afterwards remarried the now deceased Lady Victoria Alexandrina Howard, eldest daughter of the Duke of Norfolk Sir Henry Raeburn expressed especial approval of this likeness of Scott ; and on its being remarked to him that the head looked disproportionately high, his rejoinder was that " Scott had a siory more in his head than any other man." Most of the artists who painted Scott seem to have made an effort to conceal the extraordinary height of his head, which is strikingly displayed in the cast taken after death. GEORGE C RAN S TO UN. LORD COREHOUSE. Younger son of the Hon. George Cranstoun, fourth son of William, fifth Lord Cranstoun. After being some years in the army, he was admitted to the bar in 1793 ; sheriff of Sutherland 1806 ; chosen Dean of Faculty in 1823; elevated to the bench in 1826; resigned his seat 1839, in consequence of an attack of paralysis ; and died, unmarried, at his seat of Corehouse, on the Clyde, in 1850. He was an excellent lawyer, especially in feudal cases, a painstaking judge, and was also distinguished for general scholarship and cultivated taste. Politically a Whig, he seldom canie forward as a prominent member of the party. He is under- stood to have been the author of the famous " Diamond Beetle Case," a humorous jeu d' esprit on the manner and professional peculiarities of the judges constituting the old Court of Session before it was broken up into two divisions, in which " the involved phraseology of Lord Bannatyne, the predilection for Latin quotation of Lord Meadowbank, the brisk manner of Lord Hermand, the anti-Gallic feeling of Lord Craig, the broad dialect of Lords Polkemmet and Balmuto, and the hesitating manner of Lord Methven are admirably caricatured." Cranstoun's manner at the bar is thus described by Lockhart : — " The pensive and pallid countenance, every delicate line of which seemed to breathe the very spirit of compact thoughtfulness — the mild, contempla- tive blue eyes, with now and then a flash of irresistible fire in them — the lips so full of precision and tastefulness in the compression of their curves — not perhaps without a dash of fastidiousness, the gentle, easy, but firm and dignified air and attitude — everything about him had its magic, and the charm was not long in winning me effectually into its circle. The stream of his discourse flowed on calmly and clearly; the voice itself was mellow, yet commanding ; the pronunciation exact, but not pedantically so ; the ideas rose gradually out of each other, and seemed 13 LORD COREHOUSE. to clothe themselves in the best and most accurate of phraseology, without the exertion of a single thought in its selection. The fascination was ere long complete ; and, when he closed his speech, it seemed to me as if I had never before witnessed any specimen of the true ' melliflua majestas ' of Quinctilian. " The only defect in his manner of speaking, (and it is, after all, by no means a constant defect), is a certain appearance of coldness, which, I sus- pect, is nearly inseparable from so much accuracy. Mr Cranstoun fe a man of high birth and refined habits, and he has profited abundantly by all the means of education, which either his own or the sister country can afford. His success in his profession was not early, (although never was any success so rapid, after it once had a beginning) ; and he spent, there- fore, many years of his manhood in the exquisite intellectual enjoyments of an elegant scholar, before he had either inclination or occasion to devote himself entirely to the more repulsive studies of the law. It is no wonder, then, that, in spite of his continual practice, and of his great natural elo- quence, the impression of these delightful years should have become too deep ever to be concealed from view ; and that even in the midst of the most brilliant displays of his forensic exertion, there should mingle some- thing in his air, which reminds us, that there is still another sphere, wherein his spirit would be yet more perfectly at home." — Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk. " His speaking was anxiously precise ; while ingenious law, beautiful reasoning, and measured diction, gave every professional speech, however insignificant the subject, the appearance of a finished thing. It was not his way to escape from details by general views. He built up his own argu- ment, and demolished that of his adversary, stone by stone. There are few in whose hands this system could have avoided being tedious. But he managed it with such brevity in each part, and such general neatness and dexterity, that of all faults tediousness was the one of which he was freest. He could not be forcible, and was too artificial to be moving, and therefore avoided the scenes where these qualities are convenient. His appropriate line was that of pure law, set off by elegance, reasoning, and learning. . . . The defect of the whole composition was a want of nature. ... He would have been far more powerful and popular, could he have been but artless. His exposition of law was matchless, and he sometimes touched the right moral chord, but not always on the right key. The disposition to get into LORD CO REHOUSE. the region of exquisite art, to embellish by an apt quotation, to explain by an anecdote, to drop his distinctly uttered and polished words, one by one, like pearls, into the ear, adhered to him too inseparably. ... His and Jeffrey's professional struggles were often very amusing. He under- valued what he thought Jeffrey's ignorance of correct law ; Jeffrey made game of the technical accuracy of his learned brother. A black letter judge agreed with the one, the world admired the other. Each occasionally tried the other's field. But in these encroachments the advantage was generally on the side of Jeffrey ; who, with due preparation, could more certainly equal the law of Cranstoun, than Cranstoun could the ingenuity or the brilliant illustration of Jeffrey. The one was in books, the other in the man." — Cockburn's Life of Jeffrey. FRANCIS JEFFREY. LORD JEFFREY. Son of George Jeffrey, a Depute Clerk of Session, in good business as a writer; born in Edinburgh in 1773; educated at Glasgow, Oxford, and Edinburgh ; admitted to the bar 1794. Jeffrey was early known for the keenness of his intellect and the elegance of his taste ; but his progress in his profession was at first but slow. In 1805, along with several friends among the younger Whigs, he started the Edinburgh Review, the Rev. Sidney Smith having been the original projector of the scheme, and Jeffrey being editor. To the sudden and permanent success of that journal, in which the most brilliant of the articles were Jeffrey's contributions, it is needless to allude. Before 1820 Jeffrey's practice at the bar had become considerable. As a pleader his resources were boundless, and his ingenuity and readiness never tempted him to neglect the patient study of his case. His reputation stood particularly high in jury cases. In 1829 he was elected Dean of Faculty, when he gave up the editorship of xh& Review. In 1830 his political friends coming into office, conferred on him the office of Lord Advocate, when he resigned his Deanship. He was returned member for the Forfarshire burghs, unseated by an election committee, but got into Parliament for the borough of Malton. After the passing of the Reform Bill, he was returned at the head of the poll as one of the two representatives of Edinburgh, which post he retained till raised to the bench of the Court of Session in 1834. He was an excellent judge; his legal learning was of a high order; he performed his duties with a rare union of patience and activity, and delivered his opinions with characteristic liveliness and felicity of illustration. Jeffrey died on the 26th January 1850, after a few days' illness, and was interred in the Dean Cemetery. Jeffrey is thus described in 18 10, by Mrs. Grant of Laggan : — " He is in many respects very unlike what you would imagine him ; not the least ambitious of new or distinguished acquaintances, nor by any means fond of large parties, or the show and bustle of life. I know no one of more domestic habits, nor any one to whom all the charities of home and 14, IS LORD JEFFREY. kindred seem more endeared. If the world were not full of inconsistency, I would say it was almost impossible to reconcile the asperity of his criticisms with the general kindness of his disposition. I do not promise that you will, on meeting, find him greatly calculated to please in conversation : the fertility of his mind, the rapidity of his expression, and the fire of his countenance, altogether giving an air of ungraceful impetuosity to his conversation. This, while it overpowers the feeble by its strength, and, as it were, tires the eye by the quick succession of its coruscations, is n^ever- theless brilliant, vigorous, and profound. He is lavish of thought, and gives a guinea where a sixpence might do as well ; but then he has no change, and pays all in gold." " He was not," says his biographer. Lord Cockburn, " so much distinguished by the predominance of any one great quality, as by the union of several of the finest. Rapidity of intellect, instead of misleading, as it often does, was combined in him with great soundness ; and a high condition of the reasoning powers with an active and delightful fancy. Though not what is termed learned, his knowledge was various ; and on literature, politics, and the philosophy of life, it was deep. A taste exquisitely delicate and largely exercised, was one of the great sources of his enjoyment, and of his unmatched critical skill. But the peculiar charm of his character lay in the junction of intellectual power with moral worth. His honour was superior to every temptation by which the world could assail it. The pleasures of the heart were necessary for his existence, and were preferred by him to every other gratification, except the pleasures of conscience. Passing much of his time in literary and political contention, he was never once chilled by an unkind feeling, even towards those he was trying to overcome. An habitual gaiety never allowed its thoughtlessness, nor an habitual prudence its caution, to interfere with any claim of charity or duty. Nor was this merely the passive amiableness of a gentle' disposition. It was the positive humanity of a resolute man, glowing in the conflicts of the world." Jeffrey was twice married, in 1801, to Catherine, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Wilson, Professor of Church History in St. Andrews University, who died in 1805; and in 181 3, to Miss Charlotte Wilkes, (daughter of a banker in New York, and grand-niece of the famous John Wilkes,) who survived him only a few months, and by whom he had one child, a daughter, married to Professor Empson of Haileybury, for a time editor of the Edin- burgh Review. HENRY COCKBURN. LORD COCKBURN. Son of Archibald Cockburn, one of the Barons of Exchequer, by Janet, daughter of Captain David Rannie of Melville, and aunt to the first Viscount Melville. Born 1779 ; admitted to the bar 1800; made Advocate- Depute 1807, which office he lost in 18 10, from political differences with the government, from which time he became a prominent member of the Whig party. He was made Solicitor- General in 1830, by the Grey Ministry, and became one of the Supreme judges in 1834. He died at his residence of Bonaley, near Edinburgh, in 1 854. It was not till the introduction into Scotland of Jury trial in civil causes that Cockburn found scope for remunerative professional employment ; but in the art of convincing a jury he has hardly ever been surpassed. His speaking was characterized by eloquence, earnestness, pathos, and humour. He will perhaps be best remembered by his ' Memorials of hisTime ' and his ' Life of Jeffrey.' Cockburn maried in 181 1 Elizabeth, daughter of James Macdowall, brother of William Macdowall of Garthland, M.P., and has left a family. 16 JAMES WEDDERBURN. SOLICITOR GENERAL. The third son of James Wedderburn Colville, Esq., of Inveresk, a younger son of Sir John Wedderburn of Blackness, Bart., who was attainted and executed for his part in the rebellion of 1 745. He was born 1 782, admitted to the bar 1803 ; Solicitor-General 181 6, and died at St Mary's Isle, the seat of his sister, the Countess of Selkirk, in 1822, at the age of 40. Through his acquirements and connections, Mr Wedderburn, had he lived much longer, could not have failed of attaining a seat on the Bench. He married in 181 3 Isabella, daughter of James Clerk, Esq., and sister of the late Right Honourable Sir George Clerk, Bart, of Penicuick, and left a family. 17 ROBERT FORSYTH, ADVOCATE. Mr. Forsyth, before being an Advocate, was a probationer of the church of Scotland, and on this account considerable opposition was made by the Faculty of Advocates to his becoming a member of their body. Eventually, however, in 1 792, after resignation of his licence into the hands of the Presby- tery, and the acceptance of that resignation by the Presbytery, the Advocates withdrew their objection, and he was admitted to the bar. Gifted with considerable intellect and indefatigable perseverance, he stood among the foremost of the working lawyers of his time. He was the author of "Beauties of Scotland," published in 1809; and of certain "Political Fragments," shewing thought and originality. Mr. Forsyth died in 1845. " I have never seen a countenance that combined in such a strange manner, originality of expression with features of common-place formation. His forehead is indeed massy and square, so far as it is seen ; but his wig comes so low down, as to conceal about the whole of its structure. His nose is large and firm, but shaped without the least approach to one beautiful line. His mouth is of the widest, and rudely-fashioned ; but whether he closes it entirely, or, what is more common, holds it slightly open with a little twist to the left, it is impossible to mistake its intense sagacity of expression, for the commonplace archness of a mere practised dealer in litigation. His cheeks are ponderous, and look as if they had been cast in brass, and his chin projects with an irresistible air of unguUibility. But the whole of this would be nothing without his eyes. The one of these is black as jet, and looks out clearly from among a tangled and ever- twinkling web of wrinkles. The other is light in hue, and glimmers through a large and watery surface, contracted by no wrinkles — (the lids on that side being large, smooth, and oily) — generally in a direction as opposite as possible from that which its more vivacious neighbour happens 18 ROBERT FORSYTH. to be following for the moment. It has not, however, the appearance of being blind, to one who views it disconnected from the other, and nothing, indeed, can be more striking than the total difference of effect which the countenance produces, according as it is viewed in sinistral or in dextral profile. On the one side, you' have the large, -glazed, gray eye, reflecting an air of unutterable innocence and suavity on all the features it seems to be illuminating. On the other, you have the small black iris, tipped in, the centre with an unquenchable dazzling flame, and throwing on everything above and below it a lustre of acumen, that Argus might have been proud to rival with all his ubiquity of glances." — Peter's Letters- to His Kinsfolk. ROBERT CORBET, ADVOCATE, Son of a Provost of Dumfries ; was admitted to the bar in 1777 ; obtained the office of Solicitor of Teinds in 1816, which he held down to his death in 1833. A successful counsel, he was in especial repute as a church lawyer and pleader before the General Assembly. 19 JAMES MILLAR OF HALLHILL, ADVOCATE. Admitted to the bar 1789 ; died 1824. " From his ruddy complexion and short round figure, he was known at the bar by the sobriquet of ' Cupid.' He was much devoted to the Lanarkshire pastime of curling ; and on one occasion, when he was engaged to plead a case before Charles Hay, the first Lord Newton, he left the Parliament House to pursue his favourite amusement. When the opposite counsel insisted on taking decree, the good-natured judge said, 'No, no ; the cause may wait till to-morrow, but there is no security that the frost will wait for Mr Millar." — Kay's Portraits. The estate of Hallhill in Lanarkshire, of which he was proprietor, was sold by him some years before his death. 20 PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON. John Wilson, the well-known "Christopher North" of Blackwood; and Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, was born at Paisley in 1 785, where his father was a rich manufacturer. Part of his education was received at Glasgow University, and part at Oxford, where he was distinguished at once for his scholarship, and for his physical strength and exuberance of animal spirits. He purchased EUeray, a beautiful estate on Lake Windermere, where he had it in his power at once to indulge his love of athletic sports, and to enjoy the society of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, and De Quincey. He became known in 181 2 as author of The Isle of Palms, which gave him a place among the " Lake Poets." Pecuniary reverses obliged him soon afterwards to break up his establishment at Elleray ; in 181 5 he was admitted to the Scottish bar, and though he never devoted himself to the practice of his profession, Edin- burgh was thenceforth his usual residence. He there formed one of a band of literary Tories, with Scott as leader, who set on foot a rebellion against the supremacy of Jeffrey and his friends. His " City of the Plague" appeared in 1816. And in 181 7, when Blackwood's Magazine was started, he was one of its most important contributors. In 1820 he was appointed successor of Dr Thomas Brown in the Edinburgh Chair of Moral Philosophy. His lectures, though somewhat desultory, were full of eloquence and subtlety of intellect, and won for him the enthusiastic devotion of his students. In 1822 he published his Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life, and Margaret Lyndsay in 1823. He at the same time continued active in his contributions to the Magazine, and when Lockhart was withdrawn to London in 1826 to edit the Quarterly Review, he became so completely identified with Blackwood that the public looked on him almost in the light of its editor. In 1853 he was permanently disabled by an attack of paralysis, and he died the following year. In 18 10 he married Miss Jane Penny of Liverpool, who died in 1840, and by whom PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON. he left a family. A Memoir of Wilson, by his daughter, Mrs J. T. Gordon, was published in 1863. The likeness of Wilson represents him very nearly at the period when the following description was written by his friend Lockhart : — " He is . . . a very robust athletic man, broad across the back — firm set upon his limbs — and having altogether very much of that sort of air which is inseparable from the consciousness of great bodily energies. I suppose, in leaping, wrestling, or boxing, he might easily beat any of the poets,«his contemporaries — and I rather suspect, that in speaking, he would have as easy a triumph over the whole of them, except Coleridge. In complexion, he is the best specimen I have, ever seen of the genuine or ideal Goth. His hair is of the true Sicambrian yellow; his eyes are of the lightest, and at the same time of the clearest blue; and the blood glows in his cheek with as firm a fervour as it did, according to the description of Jornandes, in those of the " Bello gaudentes, prselio ridentes Teutones " of Attila. I had never suspected, before I saw him, that such extreme fairness and freshness of complexion could be compatible with so much variety and tenderness, but, above all, with so much depth of expression. His forehead is finely, but strangely shaped; the regions of pure fancy, and of pure wit, being both developed in a very striking manner — which is but seldom the case in any one individual — and the organ of observation having projected the sinus frontalis to a degree that is altogether uncommon. I have never seen a physiognomy which could pass with so much rapidity from the serious to the most ludiprous of effects. It is more eloquent, both in its gravity and in its levity, than almost any countenance I am acquainted with is in any one cast of expression ; and yet I am not without my suspicions, that the versatility of its language may, in the end, take away from its power. " In a convivial meeting — more particularly after the first two hours are over — the beauty to which men are most alive in any piece of eloquence is that which depends on its being impregnated and instinct with feeling. Of this beauty no eloquence can be more full than that of Mr. John Wilson. His declamation is often loose and irregular to an extent that is not quite worthy of a man of his fine education and masculine powers ; but all is redeemed, and more than redeemed, by his rich abundance of quick, generous, and expansive feeling. The flashing brightness, and now and then the still more expressive dimness of his eye — and the tremulous music PROFESSOR JOHN WILSON. of a voice that is equally at home in the highest and lowest of notes — and the attitude bent forward with an earnestness to which the graces could make no valuable addition — all together compose an index which they that run may read — a rod of communication to whose electricity no heart is barred. Inaccuracies of language are small matters when the ear is fed with the wild and mysterious cadences of the most natural of all melodies, and the mind filled to overflowing with the bright suggestions of an imagination, whose only fault lies in the uncontrollable profusion with which it scatters forth its fruits." — Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk. JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART, ADVOCATE, Son of the Rev. John Lockhart, D.D., minister of Cambusnethan, born in 1794. Educated at Glasgow and at Oxford, where he took first-class honours. He became a member of the Scottish bar in 1816 ; but devoted himself more to literature than to law, and along with Wilson, was for a length of time the chief supporter of Blackwood' s Magazine, his contri- butions being for the most part distinguished by sharp, bitter, caustic wit. In 1820 he married the elder daughter of Sir Walter Scott, who died in 1837, and on the death of Sir Walter Scott, second Bart, the succession to Abbotsford opened to his son, Walter Scott Lockhart. From 1826 to 1853, he edited the Quarterly Review. His works also include, Peter's Letters to His Kinsfolk, (1819;) Valerius, (1821;) Adam Blair, (1822;) Reginald Dalton, (1823;) Matthew Wald, (1824;) Ancient Spanish Ballad s (1824;) and the Life of Sir Walter Scott, (1837-9.) In 1843 he was appointed Auditor of the Duchy of Cornwall, and he died in 1854. In Peters Letters, we have the following description of Lockhart, which, in respect of its authorship, must be regarded as a literary curiosity : — "Owing to the satirical vein of some of the writings ascribed to his pen, most persons whom I have heard speak of him, seemed to have been impressed with the notion that the bias of his character inclined towards an unrelenting subversion of the pretensions of others. But I soon perceived that here was another instance of the incompetency of the crowd to form any rational opinion about persons of whom they see only partial glimpses, and hear only distorted representations. I was not long in his company ere I was convinced that those elements which form the basis of his mind could never find their satisfaction in mere satire, and that if the exercise of penetration had afforded no higher pleasure, nor led to any more desirable result than that of detecting error, or exposing absurdity, there is no person who whould sooner have felt an inclination to abandon it in despondency and disgust. At the same time, a strong and ever-wakeful perception of 22 JOHN GIBSON LOCKHAR T. the ludicrous, is certainly ai prominent feature in his composition, and his flow of animal spirits enables him to enjoy it keenly, and invent it with success. I have seen, however, very few persons whose minds are so much alive and awake throughout every corner, and who are so much in the habit of trying and judging every thing by the united tact of so many qualities and feelings all at once. But one meets with abundance of individuals every day, who show in conversation a greater facility of expression, arid a more constant activity of speculative acuteness. I never saw Mr. Lotkhart very much engrossed with the desire of finding language to convey any relation of ideas that had occurred to him, or so enthusiastically engaged in tracing its consequences, as to forget every thing else. In regard to facility of expression, I do not know whether the study of languages, which is a favourite one with him — (indeed I am told he understands a good deal of almost all the modern langoiages, and is well skilled in the ancient ones) — I know not whether this study has any tendency to increase such facility, although there is no question it must help to improve the mind in many important particulars, by varying our modes of perception. " His features are regular, and quite definite in theiir outlines ; his fore- head is well advanced, and largest, I think, in the region of observation and perception ; but the general expression is rather pensive than otherwise. Although an Oxonian, and early imbued with an admiration for the works of the Stagyrite, he seems rather to incline, in philosophy, to the high Platonic side of the question, and to lay a great deal of. stress on the investigation and cultivation of the impersonal sentiments of the human mind-^ideas which his acquaintance with German literature and philosophy has probably much contributed to strengthen. Under the influence of that mode of thinking, a turn for pleasantry rather inclines to exercise itself in a light and good-humoured play of fancy, upon the incongruities and absurb relations which are so continually presenting themselves in the external aspect of the world, than to gratify a sardonic bitterness in exulting over them, or to nourish a sour and atrabilious spirit in regarding them with a cherished and pampered feeling of delighted disapprobation, like that of Swift. But Mr. Lockhart is a very young person, and I would hope may soon find that there are much better things in literature than satire, let it be as good-humoured as you will. Indeed, Wilson tells me he already professes him heartily sick of it, and has begun to write, of late, in a quite opposite key." MUNGO PONTON BROWN, ADVOCATE. Son of George Brown, a well known agriculturist and land valuator ; admitted to the bar 1816 ; died of consumption 1831. An able and meritorious lawyer, Mr Brown, had he lived longer, would in all probability have attained a high position in his profession. His industry is evinced by his Digest of Decisions and supplement to Morison's Dictionary. He was married to a sister of the late Alexander Earle Menteith, Sheriff of Fife, and left a family. ANDREW SKENE, ADVOCATE, Son of Dr George Skene, an eminent physician and professor of Natural History in Marischal College, Aberdeen, (descended from Gilbert Skene of Tillybirloch, a younger son of Alexander Skene of Skene, known as the " Little Laird,") by Margaret daughter of Charles Gordon of Abergeldie. Born 1784; admitted to the bar i8q6; made Solicitor-General in 1834, but resigned that ofifice almost immediately on a change of Ministry occurring; died unmarried 1835; and was interred in the New Calton Burying-Ground. " Mr Skene was educated at Marischal College, and, after having been some time in the chambers of a writer to the signet in Edinburgh, passed advocate. He gradually obtained business, and for many years before his death was in as great practice as any member of the bar. He was perhaps the most energetic pleader of the time, and although his voice was anything but musical, the force of his arguments, and the ingenuity of his pleadings, caused this defect to be soon overlooked. He was Solicitor- General prior to the formation of the Peel Administration, when he was succeeded by the present Lord Colonsay. Had it not been for his unexpected and much lamented demise in March 1835, he undoubtedly would have been re-appointed to that office upon the return of the Whigs to power. Mr Skene's application was remarkable. All his cases were prepared at night, and he was in the habit every morning of rising during winter at six, and five in summer, when he sat down, not to his professional, but to his literary studies ; for, unlike many of his brethren, who think there is no pleasant reading but in Erskine's Institute, and no useful research but in Morrison's Dictionary, — he was passionately devoted to literature. To the beauties of the old Dramatists he was sensibly alive ; and often, in the few moments he had to spare in the Parliament House, 24 ANDREW SKENE. he would expatiate on their merits, and repeat such passages as had been impressed on his memory. Amongst his most favourite Dramas were Webster's 'White Devil ' and his 'Duchess of Malfi ;' the^, he used to say, were entitled to a higher station in dramatic literature than is usually assigned to them. Nor was his taste exclusively limited to poetry ; he was very partial to historical researches ; but although fond of antiquities he was not one of those who dwell with rapture on a rusty helmet, or pour out their soul over a Roman altar. On the contrary, he held antiquaries somewhat cheap, and thought it no sin to impose upon their credulity. On one occasion he mystified them by fabricating a charter of a very strange description, which gave the learned men, both of Modern Athens and Aberdeen, an opportunity of displaying their research in its elucidation. " This was a document purporting to be a Crown grant by Robert the Bruce, ' Habrseo Judaeico ' of the lands of ' Happerstaines.' The reddendo was very peculiar The deed was slipped into a parcel of genuine writings, and found by a gentleman who was engaged in a topographical work relative to Aberdeen. The delight with which this credulous person received this unique grant of land to a Jew, so far back as the days of the Bruce, may be well conceived. He talked of it as one of the most extraordinary discoveries of modern times, — it was to be printed, — and a fac-simile given : at last he was undeceived, and his vexation may be better imagined than described. The fabricated charter is, it is understood, still preserved. " His death was deeply regretted by men of all parties, — his political antagonists knew his worth and respected his integrity ; for Andrew Skene never sacrificed his notions of right and wrong to party feeling ; to him a job was a job, whether perpetrated by Whig or Tory. He was above all the little tricks and subtleties by which many persons strive to get on in the world, — he rose solely by industry and talent, and he maintained his high position by manliness, honesty, and kindly feeling." — Notes to Court of Session Garland. ROBERT HANNAY, ADVOCATE, Eldest son of James Hannay, of Blairinnie, co. Kirkcudbright ; admitted Advocate 1814, died 1868. He was a man of literary tastes, but made no figure as a lawyer ; and after a short trial of the bar, left Edinburgh and went to reside in London. 25 JOSEPH HUME, ADVOCATE, Only Son of David Hume of Ninewells, the eminent lawyer and Baron of Exchequer, and grandnephew of David Hume the historian. With talents that gave promise of a brilliant career, he was admitted to the bar 1818, but died the following year. 26 JAMES BROWNLEE, ADVOCATE, Admitted to the bar 1812, died 185 1. Mr Brownlee joined the profession rather later in life than was usual. He was of humble birth ; had formerly been a writer's clerk. His manners were coarse, his exterior unpre- possessing, and he was much marked with small-pox. Mr Brownlee's knowledge of Scotch law was respectable, and his practice in the early part of his life as a Parliament House Clerk made him familiar with forms of process ; but his appearance and manner at the bar were often the occasion of merriment among his brethren. Not meeting with much success as an advocate, he forsook the Parliament House, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. 27 JAMES ALLAN MACONOCHIE, ADVOCATE. Third son of Allan Maconochie of Meadowbank, in the county of Edin- burgh, a judge of the Court of Session, under the title of Lord Meadowbank, by Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew Wellwood of Garvock, and younger brother of Alexander Maconochie Wellwood, also a judge under the title of Lord Meadowbank. Mr J. A. Maconochie was admitted to the bar in 1813, appointed Sheriff of Orkney in 1823, and died unmarried in 1845. P^VHi^H 1 ^^ '■■■'"' ■-' /; -"^^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^^^-^ ' ' ' j^^^^H n 1 1 ^ JOHN BOYD GREENSHIELDS, ADVOCATE. John Greenshields, son of John Greenshields, merchant in Glasgow, and, before coming to the bar, a writer in Glasgow, was admitted advocate 1 793 and died in 1845. He married a lady of the name of Boyd, in conse- quence of whose succession, on the death of her brother, to an estate called Drum, near Denny, he assumed the additional surname of Boyd. His practice at the bar was extensive, and he was generally accounted the best writer of pleadings in the Court of Session. Mr Boyd Greenshields also cultivated literature, and published anonymously a poem of some merit entitled ' Home.' 29 HENRY BIGGAR, ADVOCATE, Admitted to the bar 1815 ; died 181 7. Mr Biggar, son of an Edinburgh merchant, had scholarship and abihties above the average, and seemed to have the prospect of a good business, when he was prematurely cut off by death 30 PATRICK ROBERTSON. LORD ROBERTSON. Second son of James Robertson, Writer to the Signet ; Advocate 1815 ; Dean of Faculty 1842 ; raised to the bench 1843 ; died 1855. Robertson's clearness of intellect, readiness, and versatility, early advanced him into a high position in the profession, and established him in a large practice both in the Court of Session and in the General Assembly. Much of his strength lay in the union of unusual- powers of humour with acute perception and knowledge of human nature. He was even aided by his jovial appearance, his unusual corpulence, and his quizzical expression of face. In the power of depriving a grievance of all its seriousness or sentimentality, and presenting it to a jury in an utterly burlesque aspect, he was probably never equalled. Humorist as he was, he discharged the duties devolving on the Dean of Faculty with general satisfaction, and on the bench it was only on a very few exceptional occasions that he overstepped the limits of judicial dignity or decorum. Robertson's convivial reputation is enlarged on in Peter's Letters, where he is described as making speeches which had neither beginning, middle, nor end, singing songs in which music was not, proposing toasts in which meaning was not, " yet over everything that he said there was flung such a radiance of sheer mother-wit, that there was no difficulty in seeing that the want of meaning was no involuntary want." Politically he was a Tory. The following remarks are extracted from an obituary notice in the Inverness Courier: — " Every humorist is in some sort an actor, and Lord Robertson's rich intellectual qualities were heightened by his power of facial expression, his fine deep voice, so capable of modulation, and his exquisite mimicry. His grave stolid look, pretending ignorance, incredulity, or surprise, was worthy of Liston, and helped out his arguments wonderfully with a jury or 31 LORD ROBERTSON. audience. In private society he could set the table in a roar by simply repeating the word " Here " in the different tones and voices of a country jury answering to their names in Court, and when he followed the same jury into the retiring room, to consult as to their verdict, no scene in a farce could be more laughable. He was prone to imitations of our Highland Gaelic and Highland character, and delighted in telling how, in Ross-shire, he had once asked a man if there was a road to Lochbroom ? ' A road ! there's roads all over the Highlands.' ' What sort of mad is it ? ' ' There's a good fair bridle-road till within thirty miles of the place.' On another occasion, in some part of the West Highlands, off the main road, where his carriage could not be taken, he borrowed two stout blankets, with which four Highlanders shouldered him over hill and moor — nd slight task to carry a man of twenty stones in this way — and he described with great humour this curious process of conveyance, and the tone of the Highlanders shouting out, as they jolted up or down a pre- cipice, ' My lord, are you easy } ' These humorous exaggerations formed an endless fund of amusement to his friends. He had an inimitable story of a Highland caddie or porter describing to another caddie the tragedy of Othello which he had witnessed at the theatre. The manner in which the interlocutor dwelt upon the rage and the ' coorse language ' of the hero, the villany of lago (or J ago as he pronounced it), and the smothering scene at the last, was unique and indescribable. Sometimes, though very rarely, and only on select occasions, and at a late hour, the learned council would venture on a Gaelic sermon, and at one time he did not hesitate at a Gaelic grace in the morning. .... Some Gaelic phrases the witty advocate had picked up in his visits to the north, among which the conjunction aigas, or and, was always conspicuous. By help of this, with suitable looks, shrugs, groans, and gestures, his vocal Imitations were sufficiently provocative of mirth, and when he failed he was always iready, as he said, like the Highlanders, to skeoch doch na skiel — to cut a tale with a drink. He did not succeed so well with imitations of Irish character. One of his sallies of the latter description gave deep offence to an excellent Irishman, the late Sir Edward Lees, the Scottish Post-Office Secretary, who, after a jovial night, sent a hostile message to the advocate on the following morning. Peter replied with excellent sense and humour — ' I accept your challenge — time of meeting, five o'clock to-morrow afternoon place, your dining-room — ^weapons, knife and fork,' &c. And accordingly, LORD ROBERTSON. the witty counsel waited on his friend to dinner, stated truly that he had no recollection whatever of the previous night's offence, and, of course, the matter of difference was instantly discarded, or only formed the ground for sundry jokes over their wine and walnuts. This was equal to Cobbett's reply to a challenge, which if we recollect right, ran in this way — ' You may chalk my figure on your barn-door, and fire at it. If you hit it I will know I should have been hit by you if I had been in the same position.' We may mention that among these jocular accomplishments of Lord Robertson, he could dash off in excellent style an Italian bravura, or burlesque after the manner and appearance of Lablache." Robertson was, in a measure, a cultivator of general literature, and wrote two volume? of poems, which, however, can hardly be said to have added materially to the reputation of their author. The drawing from which this Photograph was taken, was made by Mr Scott Moncrieff in February 1833; it was entitled "The Infant Ten- Pounder," and commemorates Robertson as he appeared at a political dinner given on the creation of a number of new votes at Dalkeith (of which he held one) soon after the passing of the Reform Bill. Lord John Scott, the brother of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, requested leave to keep the original, and the copy here given is taken from a lithograph made by his desire. SIR JAMES GIBSON-CRAIG, BART., OF RICCARTON. James Gibson, W.S., afterwards Sir James Gibson-Craig, Bart, was second son of William Gibson, merchant in Edinburgh, second son of John Gibson of Durie, co. Fife, by Helen, daughter of the Hon. William Carmichael of Skirling, and maternally grand-daughter of Thomas Craig of Riccarton. The family of Gibson of Durie had been more than once famous in the judicial annals of Scotland. Sir Alexander Gibson of Durie, in Charles I.'s time, was a lawyer of considerable eminence. President of the Court of Session, and made a baronet in 1628. His wife was a daughter of Sir Thomas Craig, the distinguished feudal lawyer : their eldest son. Sir Alexander Gibson of Durie, was also a judge of the Supreme Court, and a curious story is related as to his being forcibly kidnapped in Leith Links, by a suitor, to prevent his voting in the decision of his plea. Sir James Gibson-Craig was descended from a younger brother of the last named judge, and was cousin-german of Sir John Gibson- Carmichael of Skirling, the inheritor of the baronetcy of 1628. He was born in 1765, became a member of the Society of Writers to the Signet in 1786, and had a very extensive and lucrative business in that pro- fession. In 1823 he added the surname of Craig to his paternal name on succeeding to the estate of Riccarton, in the County of Mid- Lothian, under the entail of Robert Craig of Riccarton, one of the judges of the Com- missary Court, and lineal descendant of Sir Thomas Craig the feudalist. In 1796 he married Miss Anne Thomson, and had, with other children, the present Lord-Clerk Register, Sir William Gibson-Craig, Bart., and Mr. J. T Gibson-Craig, Writer to the Signet. He was created a Baronet in 1831, and died in 1850. Sir James Gibson-Craig was a warm and active adherent of the Whig party---but he had numerous friends among his political opponents. Shortly before his death he wrote an interesting sketch of the life of his friend John Allen, author of ' An enquiry into the rise and growth of the Royal prerogative in England.' 32 HUGH WARRENDER, WRITER TO THE SIGNET. After having been for years assistant to Mr. John Davidson, a Writer to the Signet in large practice, who was long crown agent, Mr. Warrender succeeded, on Mr. Davidson's demise in 1797, to his business. He became a member of the Society of Writers to the Signet in 1 795, and was soon afterwards appointed Deputy-Keeper of the Signet, which honourable office he retained till his death in 1820. Being a moderate living man, and living to a great age, he accumulated a considerable fortune, which, with his estate of Bruntsfield, and his house and garden on the Castle Hill, was inherited, under his settlement, by his relative, the late Sir George Warrender of Lochend, Bart. Mr. Warrender was an excellent specimen of a gentleman of the old regime, good looking, carefully dressed, polite, well-educated, and with a slight Scotch accent in his talk. The garden at his country house of Bruntsfield, which is, or was till the other day, preserved nearly in its old state, was a good example of an old Scotch garden of the time of Queen Anne, with gigantic hedges, not one of which Mr. Warrender ever allowed to be touched, nor would he permit the introduction of any modern innovation. He was equally careful of his fine forest trees at Bruntsfield ; and it was only under the fear of a law suit that he was with difficulty prevailed on to allow the pruning-knife to be applied to some trees that overhung the grounds of a neighbouring proprietor, and were doing considerable damage to the soil. There seems to be a little more approach to caricature in this portrait than in some of the rest. 33 WILLIAM GIBB, SUB-LIBRARIAN TO THE FACULTY OF ADVOCATES. Two very respectable persons of the name of Gibb, father and son, held for a considerable time the posts of assistant-librarian, the principal keeper of the Advocates' Library being Mr. Manners, senior partner of the firm of Manners & Miller, booksellers. The accompanying portrait is a likeness of the elder Gibb, whose bibliographical knowledge was under- stood to be much greater than that of his principal, a dapper little man, always neatly dressed, obliging, and attentive, who never failed to be at his post. He had a taste for horticulture; and in his time, there was, adjoining the library buildings, a carefully tended parterre planted with choice flowers. The younger Gibb was a tall gaunt man, of florid complexion, slightly marked with smallpox, of good address, well read, an accomplished musician, and member of a society of musical amateurs who met alternately at one another's houses for quartett playing. He was also a partner of the pros- perous firm of Forbes & Co., wine merchants, Adam Square. 34 At the urgent request of several persons interested in. this work, the pro- prietor of the original drawings has reluctantly consented to admit into the published collection the likenesses of two individuals whose connection with the Bench and the Bar was of a very different character from that of the distinguished contemporaries among whom they appear. It is hoped that the fastidious part of the public will forgive this apparent want of respect to the memory of the illustrious dead, which, it is admitted, can only be justified on the plea that Burke was no ordinary murderer, that his crimes have acquired a historical character, and that he bequeathed a new word to the English language. 35 LISTON AS " DOMINIE SAMPSON." ' Guy Mannering ' was the first of Scott's romances that Terry adapted to the stage, and it is believed that he had some aid from Scott in modifying the plot and re-casting the dialogue. The dramatized ' Guy Mannering,' on its production in the Edinburgh Theatre Royal, on the 25th" February 181 7, had a very warm reception, and the cast included Mrs Siddons as Meg Merrilees, and Murray as Dick Hatteraick, Russell being the Dominie. In London, Dominie Sampson became one of Liston's more famous parts ; and he won great applause from Edinburgh theatre-goers when he appeared in that character on a visit to the north in the spring of 1820. To that date probably Mr Scott Moncriefif's portrait belongs. 36 mmmmmm*iy