in Trinity Term-Four cases disposed of. We do not stop to make an addition for our readers, which they can so readily perform for themselves, or to remind them how far what is above stated corresponds with what is said to have been done in former times. It may, however, be necessary to observe, that of those cases, which we have noticed as undecided, the greater part remain so still.

It is now our intention to lay before our readers, something like a general statement of the whole business transacted in the Court of Chancery in the last (Michaelmas) Term, and to class it.

Of the motions, all, except Sims v. Ridge, which was only quasi disposed of, were got rid of,-the first having occupied (according to a statement which we shall notice presently) onefifth of the whole time during which his Lordship sat. To these we ought to add three Opera cases, which were opened, but not opened out. That still remains to be done. Of the petitions, as to the cases of Re Latham and Re Abbot, neither was decided, the one having been sent back to the Commissioners, and in the other, more papers were ordered. Re Blackburn also stands for judgment. Of Re Byles we can get no account, and therefore assume it to have been disposed of, as was Garrick v. Lord Camden. Of the appeals, the two first were heard, but not decided, and the two last disposed of. The statement to which we alluded appeared immediately af

* In the Morning Herald newspaper. According to that, about one-twentieth part of the time was devoted to the litigation, not of the parties, but of the counsel, about a hearing; and on one day his Lordship rose about twelve, because there was no business! Why was there any commission?

ter the end of the Term, giving a most minute, and (as we are informed from more than one quarter on which we can rely) most accurate account of the whole time the Lord Chancellor sat, and of the disposition of the time also. Now, according to that, the different business above specified occupied the whole, with the exception, at the utmost, of ten hours. In that time we will suppose ten, or even twenty motions disposed of, to be added to the others already mentioned; and we then recall the attention of our readers to the assertion of the Chancery writers, that, in each of the years 1808, 1809, and 1810, Lord Eldon got through, on an average, more than 6500 motions. Was, then, that Lord Eldon, or is this? To maintain his Lordship's identity, and to make him out to be the same individual, we must suppose that the majority, the infinite majority of that enormous number, were motions absolutely of course, or obtained by the signature of counsel, which find their way into the Registrar's book, and thence are made to flame in the front of his reports, and afterwards of the Chancery statement, to produce what effect it may upon persons who are staggered by round assertions and round numbers, and take no pains to examine them.

*

The last thing to which we shall advert is the comparative statement, by these writers, of the number of appeals and writs of error disposed of by Lord Eldon, and Lords North ington, Camden, Apsley, Thurlow, and Loughborough, which, it was supposed, was for ever to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. For this purpose, different periods of time are selected; and of those selected for Lord Eldon, a considerable part, in every instance, and in most of the instances the whole of the time, is after the appointment of the ViceChancellor, and the number is in favour of the present Chancellor. But to make this available, it is obvious that it should be shown, first, that the other Chancellors did not keep the appeals down, and could not have disposed of more if there had been more for them to dispose of; and, further, that those Chancellors had somebody to sit for them in the Court of Chancery,otherwise this flashy statement comes to this-that whereas, by a bill of his own, Lord Eldon obtained a Deputy expressly (as the recital declares) to allow him to sit in the House of Lords, his Lordship has been enabled to do more in that House by being regularly there, than others could who were unavoidably away, and doing something else.

But it seems that the spotless integrity' of the Lord Chan

* Quarterly Review, pp. 286, 257.

cellor is universally admitted. If, by this, is meant, as we understand it, that, in pronouncing his judgments, he stands free from all suspicion of personal corruption, the compliment is surely of a very homely texture. That which is common to so many can no longer operate as a distinction. If, as there is too much reason for believing, the judges of former times did. not stand clear in their great office, that fashion of depravity at least has long since passed away. To doubt of Lord Bacon's lamentable infection is, we fear, hopeless and impossible; yet was such conduct, even in those days, distinguished by its singularity, and stigmatized as an exception; while the admirers of Bacon, if they are compelled to admit that sordid vice which condemns him as the meanest of mankind, find a refuge for his character in his nobler qualities, and appeal to all posterity that he was also the wisest and the greatest. Even Jeffries, it has been observed, where he was not disturbed and hindered by the influence of the Court, which was then, it seems, the prevailing stumbling-block, and where the parties, Samuel Smith and Joseph Jones, had no more properties of 'attraction or repulsion than the letters of which their names were composed, was himself an upright judge. Every age has its peculiar habits and manners, and a train of thinking, in a great degree, conformable to them; and that which nobody imagines can possibly be done, becomes in a little time, morally speaking, impossible. To affirm of the learned Judges of the land, from the Chancellor downwards, in these our days, that they have not an itching palm'-that they do not take provoking gold in either hand'-that, when they are holding the scales of justice, they do not allow the instrument of corruption to be cast into either to falsify the account,—is indeed true, but, as a subject of commendation, is about as appropriate and select as it would be to affirm, of a man of the first condition and character in the country, that he can walk up and down St James's, or (what perhaps would be more to the purpose) Lombard Street, twice a day, without ever attempting to thrust his hand into a single pocket. To feel, that however (unfortunately for the other part of his character) he may be in the Cabinet a politician, he is a lawyer on the seat of judgment, and to act accordingly:-to look down, from that great elevation to which his merit or his fortune has raised him, upon the subjected profession with care, and watchfulness, and impartiality:-to cultivate that profession to which, whatever others may think of it, he owes all his honours and all his prosperity, and to advance it, if possible, in credit, and dignity, and public esteem:-to deal with every man, placed

under his great and absolute power, according to his merits, and according to his merits only:-to chase away the assiduities of interest, and the importunities of power, if they should attempt to traverse the even and lofty tenor of his course to obtain a noble victory over jealousies, and animosities, and resentments, if such should assail him, and to render the transcendant dignity of the officer superior to the natural, and, therefore, inevitable, frailties of the man. This, in our humble apprehension, this is the only integrity that should be spoken of as honourable to a Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Of the twopenny integrity, more common infinitely than copper coin, and therefore less valuable, which has not only never been denied, but has never come into question, we shall, for that reason, say no more.

ART. VII. Original Letters, illustrative of English History; including numerous Royal Letters: From Autographs in the British Museum, and one or two other Collections. With Notes and Illustrations. By HENRY ELLIS, F. R. S. Sec. S. A. Keeper of the Manuscripts in the British Museum. 3 vols. 8vo. pp. 1070. London, Harding, 1824.

IT r antiquaries in the fortunate situation of Mr Ellis, intrusted with the keeping of Literary and Historical treasures, would, like him, give up to the humbler but important duties of Editors, a portion of the time which they are too fond of devoting entirely to abstruse speculations upon points connected with their favourite pursuits, the world of letters would gain incalculably by their labours. Instead of one man of learning, or a few such men, exhausting their ingenuity upon the materials within their reach, while the rest of the world were excluded from the inquiry, the whole force of the literary community would be brought to bear upon the whole fund of disquisition; and the rich treasures now in a great measure hid from the publick eye, would become both accessible to all competent workmen, and, through them, available to the use of mankind at large. The gratitude of the republick of letters is therefore, as it appears to us, eminently due to Mr Ellis for setting so good an example; and we trust he will be encouraged by the publick in such a manner as may both make him persevere in the same course, and induce others to follow him."

The title-page almost sufficiently describes the plan and the contents of these volumes. They consist of Letters from the most

celebrated personages in English Story, during a period of about three centuries, beginning with Henry V. and ending with George I. The greater number of the originals are preserved in the British Muscum; and a cursory reader of the Dedication would suppose that they came from the late King's library, so munificently presented by his present Majesty. Upon closer inspection, however, it appears that the author only means to say that the larger portion of the whole letters come from the Museum, which your Majesty has been graciously pleased to enlarge and enrich with the donation of the Library collected by your Majesty's revered father.'-' A gift,' he adds, 'greater than has been bestowed by any Sovereign upon any nation, since the library of the Ptolemies was founded at Alexandria.' Far be it from us to quarrel with any expression of publick gratitude for so munificent an act as that of his Majesty in giving the library; but it surely ought to be recollected, that the celebrated collection at Paris, called the King of France's library, is as accessible to the publick-as much publick property as that of the British Museum; with this difference, that the nation here has paid for all the collections in the Museum, except such as were the gifts of individuals, while the whole French library was paid for and maintained by the King. The truth is, however, that there is no satisfying praisers; they are, next to those whom they laud, the most insatiable of all mortals; and, never content with stating that a person has done much and merits many thanks, they must always have him to be the only one who has done any thing, or the one who has done the most. When this spirit takes a national turn, it runs into still wilder luxuriance, and gives rise to that pharisaical habit so disgustingly prevalent in this country, and which, while it leads to an unwise contempt of all other countries, begets a very hurtful reluctance to profit by their experience in avoiding their errors, or to avail ourselves of their aid by judicious imitation.

The plan of our author is to give a distinct reference to the place where each MS. is preserved; to add such explanatory notes as may be requisite for removing difficulties; and to prefix short dissertations wherever they are wanted, or where he has any interesting information touching the times, the writers, and the subject, to communicate. The reader who only looks to Mr Ellis's very modest mention of these dissertations in the preface, would greatly undervalue them ;-they are full of minute and curious learning; extremely useful to the profitable perusal of the documents themselves; and, generally speaking, very judiciously composed.

The first Letter in this collection is curious, and relates to a