HIS PARSIMONIOUS HABITS, Justice"-and quotes "Sydney Smith" who wrote thus "This absurdity of attributing the high price of corn to the combinations of farmers, and the dealings of middle men, was the common nonsense talked in the days of my youth." Although these days are past, this same "nonsense" has again become common; and journalists ascribe the high price paid for corn in this country, during the last three or four years, to the successful "combinations of farmers and middlemen." We don't propose to punish the trade, although the immediate consequence of their operations are not doubtful, while the more remote results may tend to equalise prices over space and time; yet a greater personage than any of the puisne judges also had prejudices on the subject. The author of "Rasselas," in the fairy story of the "Fountains," makes the chief of the faries in Plinlimmon, Lady Lilinet of the Blue Rock, confess among other indiscretions of her ignorance, and her yonth, thst "I dissipated a mist which assumed the form of a town, and was raised to decoy a monopoliser of corn from his way to the next market." We cannot say that Lord Campbell has flattered Lord Kenyon. Some of the biographer's anecdotes, as at page 85, are not in very good taste, although they may be suitable to the society of Westminster Hall; the Chief Justice should know, the repetitions of the story of Lord Kenyon's single handkerchief, and how he came by it, and several other matters of the same kind, are not indicative of good authorship. By his parsimonious habits Lord Kenyon, we are told, died rich; yet, Lord Ellenborough, who was not parsimonious, died equally rich, or nearly as wealthy in money and property, while he had secured a sinecure office, worth £7000 annually for his son; but we read no reproach of Lord Ellenborough on that account. The former Chief Justice was a very rugged Tory, desperately opposed to changes, regular in his personal habits, simple to a fault in his style of living, attached warmly to his family, honest and upright in the discharge of his judicial duties; and many of his defects arose from his restricted education, which he did not attempt to improve, because he would thus have acknowledged the necessity of some change. Lord Kenyon died in 1802, six months after he had buried his eldest son, with the sorrowful remark over the open tomb, "it is large enough for both"-the last refuge of an extremely successful life-for in his day, and with his parts, although he was a quick and ready lawyer, conversant with all the works on English law that he could read, few men, if any, had been more fortunate than the heir of Bryn and Gredington, which became his property by the death of his elder brother as his own, and enlarged estates, from the same cause, descended to his second son, who, with them, inherited his father's political principles. He died in 1855, thirty three years after the founder of the family. Mr. Law, subsequently Lord Ellenborough, 589 was known to Lord Campbell in his professional capacity; and his part of this volume is fuller than Lord Kenyon's. Law was a Bishop's son, educated at Cambridge, intended for the Church, who went to the bar on his own suggestion. He was born at Salkeld, a parish in the north of England, on the 16th November, 1750. He was educated at the Charter House, before he entered at Cambridge; where he attained the reputation of being a good classical scholar, and carried off the first medal in one year; but his biographer acknowledges that his written compositions, whether in Latin or English, were never remarkable either for lucid arrangement or purity of style? He was a fair speaker, not certainly eloquent, but impressive; and he attained an extensive acquaintance with English law; yet, except for his connexion with Warren Hastings, we know of nothing in Mr. Law's career to distinguish him peculiarly, and Lord Ellenborough's legislative history is associated only with the recollection of some criminal laws, now long out of date. He left Cambridge and entered himself of Lincoln's-inn, in 1749, and he became a pupil of Mr. Wood, who was the special "special pleader" of that time-concerning whom and Lord Mansfield, the biographer tells a joke of small dimensions.. Wood had bought a horse, and when he wanted the horse to carry him the beast demurred, and, like many other bad animals, preferred the town to the country. Thereupon Wood brought an action for compensation against the former owner; and Lord Mansfield, on trying the case, said, Who would have supposed that Mr. Wood's horse would have demurred when he ought to have gone to the country. And the author adds, Any attempt to explain this excellent joke to lay gents would be vain, and to lawyers would be superfluous. We beg his Lordship's pardon, but, belonging to the misera plebs contribuens-as Lord Kenyon might have said-to the support of lawyers, we quite understand his joke; and it is not a very excellent one-not a bit cleverer than many others that people hear half a dozen of in a day in common life-and scarcely ever repeat them. How dull is Westminster Hall, where such things live for half a ceatury. Mr. Law, like Mr. Kenyon, lived for many years upon his opinions, but the former wrought under the Bar, and was not even called upon to practise. His answers to cases were cheap, and they were clear, and thus far good; so that he derived a large income from hard work, and had pupils who brought him fees of one hundred gui neas a-year, for permission to copy his papers. He attained thus an intimate knowledge of law; and rendered almost certain his success at the bar when he decided to enter the more public paths of his profession, to which he was called in 1780, eleven years after he had entered at Lincoln's-inn. His success was attained chiefly in the country, and there in the Northern circuit, and he did not come readily into London practice. He was rather disheartened at this state of matters, when he found, one evening, at his chambers, "a general retainer for Warren Hastings, Esq.," with a fee of five hundred guineas. It was a disgrace to England that this name should have been written "Warren Hastings, Esq.," at least while titles are broadcast among the idle or imbecile. It is the shame of the old Whig party that the trial ever occurred. And to those who follow out the evidence adduced during seven years, the whole business must appear disgraceful to Sheridan, Fox, and Burke; but especially to the latter, unless upon the supposition that he lied so eloquently and long as to believe his own fictions by dint of iteration; and died as he had lived, a monomaniac upon the subject. Great men among the Whigs of recent years have done justice to the memory of Warren Hastings, when they could no longer do justice to the man. Lord Campbell, although he evidently feels and knows the right, omits the condemnation of Fox, Burke, and Sheridan, which they most amply deserve from all careful historians, whenever the topic is named. He says, indeed, at page 171"In truth, the cruelties of Debi Sing had been much exaggerated, and Mr. Hastings, instead of iustigating, had put a stop to them. His counsel must have deliberated long before they resolved to object to the admissibility of the evidence, and they were probably actuated by a dread of the prejudice it might create before it could be refuted." Lord Campbell supplies, page 111, a very sad reason for the selection of Mr. Law as the leading counsel of Mr. Hastings. Another name must have occurred, then at the English bar, as the right man for the place. Did that accomplished and eloquent lawyer believe, with his political friends, that Mr. Hastings should be sacrificed for the promotion of their political interests? We believe not; and yet the honesty and honour of Erskine were not sufficiently strong to support him in braving the anger of a party who would have trampled friendship, as they had trampled truth, to gain a party victory. those days, from which one breathes more freely at the idea of having escaped. These men, whom Erskine feared and some would have us esteem and revere for their abilities, were only assassins of the worst kind-the murderers of character. In this exigency, the employment of Mr. Law was recommended by Sir Thomas Rumbold, who had married that gentleman's sister, and was acquainted with his relative's legal knowledge and perseverance, and with his fearless intrepiditythe quality most requisite, as the trial provedfor during nearly seven years Mr. Law and his colleagues-Mr. Dallas and Mr. Plomer-had to contend with the acerbity and malignancy of the ablest men in the Commons, and their duty was discharged nobly and well. The trial made Mr. Law's fortune-not by its direct fees, but by the character and fame which it secured. Mr. Law was a Whig, like Mr. Erskine; but, perhaps, not so far confirmed or initiated. The trial of Mr. Hastings entirely separated him from the leaders of his party, and he became a Tory. In 1795 he was appointed Attorney-General for the County Palatine of Lancaster. This was all the patronage that he ever obtained from Mr. Pitt; but when Mr. Addington accepted the premiership, in February, 1801, Mr. Law was named as Attorney-General. The premier honestly warned him that his ministry might be of short duration; that the leadership of the Northern Circuit could not be resumed, and therefore that he would not require an immediate answer. It is equally honourable to Mr. Law that he at once accepted the appointment, without reckoning all the chances of its permanence, adding, “I am yours; and let the storm blow from what quarter of the hemisphere it may, you shall always find me at your side." The new Attorney-General was knighted, paid five hundred pounds for his seat in Parliamentseats are dearer now than they were then-and entered the House of Commons on the 2nd March, 1801. He began his legislative life ominously, by proposing a bill for continuing martial law in Ireland, which was carried with a great majority. Next he passed a measure for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in England. The death of Lord Kenyon occurred opportunely for the liberties of the country in the next year, as nobody can now say how far the Attorney-General might have gone in law-making if, in April of 1802, he had not been appointed Chief Justice, with a Although Mr. Law had not thought of this retainer, more than of being made Archbishop of Canterbury, some of his friends had been engaged in a negotiation for securing it for him. Hastings himself was naturally desirous that he should be defended by Erskine, who had acquired so much renown as counsel for Lord George Gordon, and who had loudly declared his own personal conviction to be that the exGovernor-General deserved well of his country. But as the impeachment had become a party question, and was warmly supported by the leaders of the party to whom Erskine belonged, although he was not then a member of the House of Commons, he reluctantly declined an engagement in which his heart would have prompted the discharge of his professional duties, and by which he might have acquired even a still greater name than he has left to posterity. He declared he would not have been sorry to measure swords with Burke, who, in the House of Commons, had attacked him rather sharply and successfully. "In Westminster Hall," said he, "I could have smote the antagonist hip and thigh." But Erskine could not for a moment endure the idea of coming into personal conflict with Fox and Sheridan, whom he loved as friends, whom he dreaded as rivals, and with whom, on a change of Government, he expected to be assocía-pelled to let the people go wrong in such little ted in high office. matters as the life of a man who had only peerage. While the Attorney-General remained in his knighthood, he prosecuted Governor Wall with his accustomed bitterness, and the unfortunate man was hung to gratify popular vengeance, for the ministry could not resist a mob in passion, although, and, indeed, because they crushed popular rights, and were in some measure com The passage proves the corruption of party in been the governor of a small African island. LORD ELLENBOROUGH. Everybody," he said, "knew the supposed story of Romulus. He disappeared, and his death was supposed to be the effect of assassination." The jury followed the direction of the judge, and found Pellier "guilty;" but, owing to the commencement of hostilities with France, the defendant was never called up for sentence. Lord Ellenborough's judicial career was greatly | view of its meaning. aided by the high attainments of the other judges associated with him. We forget often how near we have lived to absurd and wicked practices in this island. The actual slavery of the mining population was not annulled by law until the last century had almost been measured out. In the second year of the present century, a person named Richard Thornton was tried at Warwick. for the murder of Mary Ashford. He was acquitted, but the case was brought by her brother William Ashford, into the Court of King's Bench. Thornton refused to plead except by claiming trial by battle, and taking his gauntlet from his right hand, cast it on the floor in token of defiance, like some knight of the olden time, and demanded his right of combat. The request was argued upon before Lord Ellenborough, who was obliged to decide that, by the law of England, as it exised then, Thornton was entitled, at that stage, to trial by battle. The appellor (Ashford) being a much weaker man than the appellee, declined the combat; and thus one probable scandal was prevented. Lord Kenyon, in the same circumstances, judging from the course which he pursued with the madman arraigned for attempting the life of George III., would have made a rule for himself, and sought indemnity by law afterwards. Lord Ellenborough, who was willing alike to fight or speak in a good cause, would have allowed the bad law to take its course to a legal duel as its termination. Immediately after this curious scene, an act-59 George III., c. 46—passed, to abolish trial by battle. The principal trial presided over by this Chief Justice was that of Colonel Despard and his associates, in February, 1803, for a treasonable plot. Colonel Despard was a gentleman who had honourably served the nation, and if influence could have saved him, his life would have been spared; but no reasonable doubt existed of his guilt; and though Nelson and other distinguished officers in the military and naval services spoke to his previous achievements, yet he and a number of his humble associates were sentenced to death with all the peculiarities attached in those days to the doom of traitors. The aggravations were remitted, but Colonel Despard and six of his companions were executed together. Lord Ellenborough also tried, in the same year, a criminal information filed by Mr. Percival, who was then Attorney-General, against M. Pellier, a French refugee, who was defended by Mackintosh. The information was laid at the instance of Napoleon Bonaparte, and assigned to M. Pellier a design of urging the assassination of Napoleon on the day when he assumed the Imperial purple. The sting of the libel lay in the comparison of Napoleon to Romulus, and the suggestion of a similar fate for the hero of Corsica. Mackintosh contended that the matter was only jocular, and unworthy of prosecution. The Chief Justice adopted a different In 1806 the Chief Justice joined the "All the Talents "Government, as a Cabinet Minister unattached, and without salary. An effort was made in both Houses of Parliament to pass a resolution against including the chief criminal judge of the land in a party Government; but in both houses the motion was defeated by large majorities. Mr. Percival, who was Attorney-General under the previous Government, used his influence privately with the Chief Justice in the hope of persauding him to resign his empty honour; but the attempt only led to a coldness between them. The Chief Justice followed his friend, Mr. Addington, into the unfortunate Cabinet, and he probably would not have adopted that course except to support the statesman to whom he deemed himself indebted. He appears to have taken comparatively little interest in the debates in the Peers, although he eloquently supported the bill for the suppression of the slave trade in 1806; and he appeared to desert his old friends, and vote for Lord Melville's impeachment in the same year. He continued attached to the fortunes of Mr. Addington, after the breaking up of All the Talents. This party pursued then the tactics of the Derby party now. They attacked the foreign policy of the Government upon such points as gave them the appearance of a cheap liberalism. Lord Ellenborough said of the expedition against the Danish fleet that it reminded him of— "the ill-omen'd bark, Built in th' eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark." and that the only defence of the measure, was formed of doctrines which he was in the habit of reprobating at the Old Bailey. He had not very patriotic notions on many points. He defended the treaty of peace in 1802 in all its clauses; and he entertained a few opinions that have never since wanted advocates; although they are incompatible with the dignity of the Crown, the prosperity of the people, and the strength of the em pire. He considered South Africa as perfectly useless : With respect to the Cape of Good Hope, the cession of which is so much deplored, I say, my lords, that we are well rid of it. There is no advantage in that post, and the expeuse of it would have been so great that the country would soon have complained of its retention." He had not consulted his old client, Warren Hastings, on that subject; and soon afterwards the Cape of Good Hope was retaken, for the future benefit of our cotton trade, perhaps; although the expense has certainly been very considerable, as the Chief Justice expected that it would be then. We need not follow the various steps of his career, for, after he refused the Chancellorship, and would no longer dabble directly in party politics, it ran very closely in one groove. He occupied the bench as Chief Justice until 1818, through a stormy period, therefore, crowded with political trials of deep interest; and some of them taxed his failing strength. He expected, in 1817, to convict Dr. Watson of high treason; but after a trial of seven days, greatly to his mortification, and partly from the exertions of the late Sir Charles Wetherall and Mr. Sergeant Copley, now Baron Lyndhurst, the jury at once returned a verdict of "Not Guilty." Mr. Hone, a bookseller, was tried by Mr. Justice Abbot in the following year, for issuing blasphemous publications. He defended himself, and was acquitted. Lord Ellenborough was ill at home, but the tidings roused the old law lion, and he summoned his waning powers to the punishment of Hone, and the rescue of justice. two counts had to be tried. Other This being related to the enfeebled Chief Justice, his energy was revived, and he swore that, at whatever cost, he would preside in Court next day himself, so that convic tion might be certain, and the insulted law might be vindicated. Accordingly he appeared in Court, pale and hollow visaged, but with a spirit unbroken, and more stern than when his strength was unimpaired. As he took his place on the bench, "I am glad to see you, my Lord Ellen. borough," shouted Hone, "I know what you are come here for, I know what you want." I am come to do justice," retorted the noble and learned Lord, "my only wish is to see justice done."-"Is it not, rather, my Lord," said Hone, "to send a poor bookseller to rot in a dungeon ?" The jury were, however, determined not to convict. The jury, on the following day, were equally obstinate. Hone's trials were triumphs, and we cannot say that they were triumphs for "good matter," because his publications were bad. Still, the public received the verdict of acquittal with shouts of applause. The Judge received it differently. Bishop Turner, who was present at the trial, and accompanied the Chief Justice home in his carriage, related that all the way he laughed at the tumultuous mob that followed him, remarking that he was afraid of their saliva, but not of their bite; and that passing Charing-cross, he pulled the check-string and said, "It just occurs to me that they sell the best red herrings, at this shop, of any in London; buy six." The popular opinion, however, was that Lord Ellen borough was killed by Hone's trial, and he certainly never held up his head in public after. The six red herrings were obviously an effort to appear cool-done for a kindred reason with that which induced Burns's peasant, on Hallowe'en, "to whistle up Lord Lennox March "-not that the Chief Justice wanted courage to face ghost or man, but at that moment he felt humbled, and could have introduced a bill for the abolition of Westminster juries. Upon the 21st of September, 1818, he resigned his seat on the bench, requesting the pension allowed to Chief Justices who have held the office for fifteen years. The Prince Regent wrote a friendly and long letter, on the 18th of October, upon the arrival of Lord Ellenborough in town, Upon the 13th of December of the same year, he died, and his remains were interred, as he had directed, in the cemetery of the Charterhouse. He was a good classic and a bad English scholar. He could write Latin well, much better than he could write English. He was fearless just, and laborious. According to the light which was in him he was a good and a sincere man. As a debater he wanted temper, and could never succeed; and yet, he was sarcastic in his own remarks. His domestic life was very happy. He had heard of the extreme beauty of Miss Towry, who, we have Lord Campbell's authority for saying, had "excited admiration almost unprecedented." The present Chief Justice narrates the particulars of this courtship in 1787, when Mr. Law was still a young man, on the Northern circuit, with no other fortune except his professsion and his talents. Amongst many others Law came, saw, and was conquered. Considering his ungainly figure and awkward address, it seems wonderful that he should have aspired to her hand among a crowd of competitors, particularly as it was understood that she had already refused very tempting proposals. But he ever felt great confidence in himself, whatever he undertook; he now said, "Faint heart never won fair lady," and, after he had paid her devoted attention for a few weeks, he asked her father's leave to address her. The worthy commissioner gave his consent, having heard that the suitor was considered the most rising lawyer in Westminster Hall. But the young lady being interrogated, answered by a decided negative. Still the lover was undismayed-even, as it is said, after a third rebuff. At last, by the charms of his conversation, and by the eulogiums of all her relations, who thought she was repelling a desirable alliance, her aversion was softened, and she became tenderly attached to him. The marriage took place on the 17th Oct., 1789, and proved most auspicious. Mrs. Law retained the beauty of Miss Towry; and such admiration did it continue to excite, that she was not only followed at balls and assemblies, but strangers used to collect in Bloomsbury-square to gaze at her as she watered the flowers which stood in her balcony. But no jealousy was excited in the mind of her husband, even when princes of the blood flattered round her. For many years the faithful couple lived together in uninterrupted affection and harmony, blessed with a numerous progeny, several of whom united their father's talents with their mother's comeliness. Lady Ellenborough, and a family of five sons and five daughters, survived him. To his widow he left a jointure of £2,000, to each of nine of his children, £15,000, and to the elder, the present Earl of Ellenborough, the residue, and the office of Chief Clerk of the Court of King's Bench, which was subsequently commuted to a payment of £7,000 a year. He accumulated a large fortune, and yet lived in considerable style. We will notice the still more pleasant life of Lord Tenterden afterwards. The volume, as we have remarked with reasons, does not exhibit the care required by the subjects; and the printing or publishing department is abominably negligent, for who would expect, on a costly work of this character, to learn from the running title, repeated page by page, that George III. was alive and on the throne up to 1832 ? THE ISLE OF MAN. (CONTINUED FROM THE SEPTEMBER NUMBER.) We have no earlier record of the laws and constitution of the Isle of Man, than that contained in the Manx Statute-book of 1422. All previous information is doubtful. King Orry, indeed, after his accession to the throne, granted his subjects the privilege of electing a certain number of representatives, who seem to have been summoned, not only to assist in the government of the state, but also to act as guarantees or hostages for the good faith of their constituents. Sixteen of these representatives were chosen for the manors, or Sheadings, into which the island is divided, and eight for the Hebrides. These representatives received the name of "Keys," which may be supposed to imply that they were both the guardians and unlockers of the laws. The "House of Keys" still exists, but it is chiefly a house of appeal, and a conclave for the formation of local laws. During the first years of the establishment of the "Keys," their jurisdiction was of extreme importance, as the laws were then verbally com. municated to the Deemsters, and in the same manner transmitted by them to their descendants. In after years there were written statutes to which the people could themselves refer; thus, less being left to the judgment of the "Keys," their legal importance became lessened. The early government of the Isle of Man was despotic to a degree; and in 1417 the grievances resulting from this despotism became so unbearable, that an appeal was made to Sir John Stanley, the second king of that family, for redress. He came to the island, investigated the complaints, saw that they had not been preferred without reason, and finally framed a code of laws, which were ever after to be recognised as the legal authority of the island. For their inauguration and promulgation he called a court of Tynwald, the first held by his family. Now the Tynwald Hill, where this court was held, is an artificial mound of earth, twelve feet in height, two hundred and forty in circumference at the base. It is situated about two and a half miles from Peel. This hill is dug or cut into three distinct ledges of mould which encompass it entirely. These ledges are the seats, which the officials, "the keys," and the clergy occupy during an assembly. The chair of state for the king, or during his absence for the governor, is placed on the summit of this hill, which, from the conical shape of the mound is only about twenty-one feet in circumference. Even to the present day no law is of established force until it has been read from the Tynwald Hill. The same forms accompany the reading of the law now as in the days of the first conclave. The deemsters, clergy, keys, and other officials, proceed to the Tynwald Hill in procession and assist in the ceremony, which proclaims the new act and establishes it in the legal jurisdiction of the island. Besides the Tynwald courts there are other courts of law, a description of which would be scarcely interesting to the reader. Appeals may be made from the decisions of juries to the Deemster, from him to the Governor, and finally to the Queen in Council. The concurrence of the three insular estates—i. e., the Queen in Council, the Governor and Council of the island, and the House of Keys, must be obtained before any law can be promulgated from the Tynwald Hill. And while we are on the subject of law and legal matters, we would rewark that it is an error to suppose that the Isle of Man shelters criminals from the laws of England. Justice finds her victims there as surely as in the British territory; a little delay and some additional trouble being the only inconveniences. We remember an instance of this which came under our own knowledge. The principal actors in this sad drama were women-women nurtured in comfort, belonging to the higher walks of life, of cultivated minds -one at least of no ordinary intellect. remember her every word, and look, and action, during the painful scenes of her Manx residence. Her portrait is deeply engraven on our memory; we wear the momento of her, our deep love and reverence, in our heart. She is too rare a creature to be appended to the fag end of a “Tynwald court;" we chronicle her history by itself, and give it as its title that of which it is worthy, her own dear name-- RUTH NEVILLE. We were two daughters of one race, The wind is howling through turret and tree, We In the northern division of the island, situated far from the main road, at the foot of one of the great hills, stands a cottage of such extreme beauty, that all who behold look and admire, and wish it were their own domain. The "all" who see it, however, are not many, for its solitude is almost perfect. A mountain stream of some depth separates it on one side from the lane through which it is approached, while the hill rising immediately at the back forbids entrance or inspection that way. We write of events which took place some years since, when this cottage was inhabited by those two of whom we have already spoken. No beings could have been more dissimilar than Grace and Ruth Neville, the orphan daughters of |