Staël did not know Erskine, Mackintosh, Curran, &c. when she wrote her work on Literature. She has retracted her opinion of British eloquence in her posthumous work. If the orators whom I have just mentioned had written nothing, I could never have formed any idea of their admirable talent from hearing the speeches of their contemporaries. I certainly make an exception in favour of Messrs. Brougham and Scarlett; but in general it is difficult to avoid applying to the English barristers of the present day, what the Spectator says of the lawyers of his time.

The rules of composition which the English barristers are required to observe, necessarily operates against the production of those energetic discourses, of which graceful or dignified action is the natural concomitant. In an English pleading all must be positive. Even in criminal cases, if the speaker depart too far from the simple discussion of the point under consideration, the judge has a

the righteous judgment of God, he will be Robert the last in his earldom."

Coke, who was attorney-general at the time of the infamous trial of Sir Walter Raleigh, insulted the prisoner by all sorts of gross and absurd appellations. He called him a serpent, with an English face and a Spanish heart; a reptile, sprung from the offscourings of the earth, &c. Sir Walter at length became irritated, and interrupted him by observing that he spoke with unbecoming barbarity. The attorney-general then said, that he could not find words to characterize such infamous treason; to which Sir Walter replied, that he indeed seemed to be at a loss for words, since he had used the same expressions several times over.

Coke's speeches are remarkable for a certain degree of conciseness, but an exuberance of ill-placed erudition, destroys the effect of some of his best discourses.

right to interrupt him, and to warn the jury not to be misled by any pathetic appeals to their sensibility. Lord Erskine's masterpieces are those speeches in which rules have not been observed.

The English code, which combines an inextricable mixture of the barbarous laws of the Saxons with the quirks of the Norman law, continually affords opportunities for sophistry and delay. Wealthy families frequently educate their younger sons for the bar. It is calculated that there are in London upwards of ten thousand legal practitioners, including barristers, solicitors, attorneys, &c. This is a scourge which Moses would have sent to the Egyptians, had he thought fit to visit them with another infliction.

The independence of the English bar has frequently been a subject of remark. But this independence did not always exist. In the reign of Henry VI. a trial on a question of precedence took place between the earl of Warwick and the Earl Marshal. Sir Walter Beauchamp, who was the first barrister dignified by the title of Sir, was counsel for the earl of Warwick; but in spite of his title he was not less servile than his learned brother Mr. Rojer Blount, in his protestations of respect for the high rank of the earl. Each of the lawyers entreated the nobleman against whom they were about to plead, to pardon all they might be obliged to say in favour of their respective clients. Hume mentions, that, at a more recent period, no barrister would venture to sign Prynn's memorial against the prelates, &c.

Adieu. If you ever attain to the dignity of a judge's gown, I hope your clients will have cause to exclaim with Shylock

"O noble judge; O excellent young man!

O wise and upright judge!

How much more elder art thou than thy looks!"

P. S. If you wish to form an accurate idea of the life of an English law-student, a barrister, or a judge, I would recommend you to read the life of Horne Tooke, who was refused admittance to the bar, under the pretence of his being in holy orders, but really on account of his political opinions. That celebrated man studied in one of the inns of court, with Dunning and Lord Kenyon, both of whom rose to eminence at the law. When Horne Tooke was tried for high treason, Dunning was his counsel, and Lord Kenyon his judge.

The life of Lord Guilford, Herbert's History of the Inns, and other works, present many curious details, which I shall probably notice after I have visited Scotland and the English universities. I shall also take another opportunity of speaking of the present Lord Chancellor, whose profound legal knowledge is proverbial. I am inclined to compare him with Mr. Bentham, who is rather a European than an English legislator. Lord Eldon has attained his present eminence solely by his own talent and exertions.

LETTER LI.

TO M. F. BLAIN, HONORARY PRESIDENT AT ARLES.

CRITICS have divided the forensic eloquence of the three kingdoms into three different styles. 1st. The English style, properly so called, which is simple, devoid of ornament, and reduced to the dry discussion of facts. 2d. The Irish style, which is florid, pathetic, and enthusiastic. And, 3d. The Scotch style, which partakes somewhat of both the others. This latter style, therefore, in which Lord Erskine's speeches are pre-eminently distinguished, may be regarded as the type of perfection; and it is very generally adopted by the English barris

I shall accordingly divide the eloquence of the British bar into two schools only: that of the English or Scottish taste, whichever it may be called, and the Irish school. The pretended London school presents no example of eloquence worthy to be distinguished in a literary point of view. Its laconism may be accounted for by the few courts of judicature in the English capital, compared with its population and the multiplicity of causes which constantly engage attention. The counsellor who pleads is obliged to count his minutes, to proceed directly to the object he has in view, and to adhere strictly to the employment of technical terms. He pleads ten causes to-day, in order that he may be

enabled, if possible, to plead twenty to-morrow. Lord Erskine, and those who have adopted his lordship as a model, have taken time to be eloquent by judgment and imagination combined. We have reason to congratulate ourselves on the publication of the Chefs d'œuvre du Burreau Français. Nothing short of that valuable collection would have enabled us to reply to the English, when they ask us where are our Erskines, and our Mackintoshes? That national monument enables us to oppose illustrious rivals to the great legal orators of England; but none, it must be confessed, can, like Lord Erskine, boast of twenty masterpieces.

"I cannot," says Madame de Staël, "too highly recommend the collection of the forensic speeches of Lord Erskine, the most eloquent and ingenious lawyer in England."* Indeed no work is better calculated to afford a correct idea of the trial by jury, the liberty of the press, and the system of criminal prosecution in England, the admirable principles of which form a gratifying contrast to the English penal code, which is, in many instances, absurd, and even atrocious.

Mutilated quotations would afford no idea of the majestic eloquence of Lord Erskine, particularly as the printed text of his speeches is, of course, destitute of that power of voice and action which gave them two-fold magic in the delivery.

"Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant
More learned than their ears-

*Considerations on the French Revolution.