an author might have formed, from his opinion, a very accurate conjecture how his work would be received by those whom every author is desirous to please. The duke's own style in epistolary correspondence was easy, playful, and felicitous, or strong, succinct, and expressive, according to the nature of the subject."

Sir Vicary Gibbs.

BORN A. D. 1750.-DIED A. D. 1820.

THIS eminent lawyer was born about the year 1750, in the city or the vicinity of Exeter. He was educated at Eton, and in 1770 was elected to king's college, Cambridge, as a scholar on Lord Craven's foundation, where he distinguished himself by his attainments in classical literature; and where he took the degree of B. A. 1772, and proceeded M. A. 1775.

In the earlier part of his life he was a popular counsel, being second to Lord Erskine in the State-trials of 1794; his exertions in favour of liberty at that time were the foundation of his eminence; but, like others, he kicked down the stool by which he rose, and when made king's counsel, his political principles changed into the most violent persecution by ex-officio informations ever known among the records of attorney and solicitor-generals, who are no way sparing in this mode. In 1795 he was made solicitor-general to the Prince of Wales, and recorder of Bristol. In 1805 he was knighted, and appointed solicitorgeneral; at the general election of 1807, he became M. P. for Cambridge. In 1812, attorney-general. In 1813 he was elevated to the bench as chief-baron of the exchequer, and soon afterwards chief-justice of the court of common pleas, on the resignation of Sir James Mansfield, which important office he was obliged to resign in 1818, on account of ill health." In 1808," says the editor of the London Magazine,' he was counsel in a cause in which the editor of this magazine, then acting as sheriff of London, was a witness. It was important to his client to prove that the editor paid vulgar respect to the dicta of reviews; but the editor, whose opinions of these corrupt productions are well known to all his readers, told the counsel that he neither respected nor read them. This Sir Vicary Gibbs affected to think strange, and insisting that every publisher, ought to consult the opinions which the reviews give of authors before he treated for their works, he asserted in his coarse way, that if any publisher bought a MS. without consulting the reviews in regard to former works of the same author, he ought not to be allowed to walk about without a keeper.' This position was to the last degree silly, yet it suited the purpose of certain witlings of the day to endeavour to embroil the sheriff with the attorney-general. The former, indeed, did not consider himself as likely to be a favourite with the crown-lawyers, with whom he had been officially at issue on several points discreditable neither to his patriotism nor benevolence. What had passed led him, however, to consider the affair as a manifestation of personal hostility on the part of Sir Vicary; but in a few days, both being in the drawing-room at St James's-Sir Vicary, at a considerable distance, across a crowd of heads, recognised the sheriff by

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a continuance of cordial salutations, which were at first gravely received and not returned; but in a few minutes he bustled through the throng, commenced some friendly inquiries, and held out his hand. The sheriff smiled, and remarked, that after all that had passed in the newspapers it must be thought strange to see them in that attitude. Pshaw, Sir,' said he, do you imagine I regard newspapers, or think about their observations?" 'Good,' rejoined the sheriff; 'yet Sir Vicary, it must be allowed that you have as great an interest in what they say, as a publisher has in the opinions of reviews !' 'You are right—you are、 right, Sir-I feel the force of the observation; but you must not expect a pleader to be always logical-the man must be distinguished from the advocate, and I hope we are friends and shall continue to be so.' The sheriff replied, that a publisher always wished to be on good terms with an attorney-general; and the parties then separated in mutual good humour, several by-standers laughing at the incident and at so singular an eclaircissement. A volume," adds Sir Richard Philipps, "could not more fully illustrate the character of Sir Vicary Gibbs, though different readers may draw very different inferences from the anecdote."

Sir Vicary died on the 8th of February, 1820. His friend Sir Richard, whose interview with him we have just described in his own words, thus sums up his character: "The late chief-justice of the court of common pleas, was a man of strong mind, peevish temper, and great legal knowledge, perfected by vast industry and continual practice. For the sake of the bar, however, the urbanity of which we would wish to respect, it is to be hoped that the asperity with which this lawyer treated all who differed in opinion from him, whether in a wig or without, will never be copied. In a counsellor a waspish infirmity of temper becomes disgusting, but in a judge it is monstrous; not that we can impute this to Sir Vicary as a chief-justice,—when raised to the bench all his petulance fled, and a dignified amenity went hand in hand with duty. The dictatorial manner of a contemporary chief-justice was unknown on the chief seat of the common pleas."

Francis Hargrave.

BORN A. D. 1741.-DIED A. D. 1821.

THIS very eminent lawyer was the son of an attorney. He was educated at the Charter house and Oxford, and afterwards entered of Lincoln's Inn. Little is known of his early career at the bar. The first case in which he appears to have distinguished himself was that of the negro Somerset, already noticed in our sketch of that eminent philanthropist Granville Sharp. Soon after his successful pleading in this interesting case, Lord North appointed him one of the treasury counsel; but he did not long retain this appointment; his whig principles appear to have procured his abrupt and early dismissal.

On this occasion Lord Thurlow addressed a letter to him in the following terms: "I am exceedingly sorry for the accident, whatever it be, by which you are removed from an office, which could not be more agreeable to you, than you might have been useful to the public. If it was mere caprice, I am also sorry that it was thought expedient to

And in

add insult to injury, by the dryness used upon the occasion. deed I am surprised at it; for Steele is certainly a sensible, honest, and well-natured nian. If the business of the treasury has been done lately with less skill and accuracy than might have been expected, I have been told, that, as by some means or other it has happened, you had no share in that. In which case I should think that would have been a better reason for employing than dismissing a man of talents. I shall not easily be brought to consider this as a tacit manner of insinuating that blame which could not be directly imputed. On the other hand, you had great merit with government, by a seasonable publication of those grounds and principles, which afforded such effectual assistance in a moment of much more importance to this country than the fate of twenty ministers. Though I have no access to know how this happened, yet you have other friends, who can easily procure such information, and I dare say Mr Harding will readily take any part which will be agreeable to you." Brinsley Sheridan also wrote to him as follows: "I do assure you that it has given me the sincerest concern that I have not yet been able to find the manuscript which you have had the trouble to inquire about so frequently. I know that it cannot be lost. But I am most irregular about papers; and sometimes, in order to be very careful, I hide what I want to secure. I have made many researches since I have come from Richmond; but being now in town for some time I have no doubt of receiving it, and will immediately have the satisfaction of sending it to you. The conduct of the minister in your case, is, in my opinion, the most violent and unjust act which the vindictive system, adopted since the king's recovery, has produced. When parliament meets, it is a circumstance very likely to be alluded to. The pretence of inattention to the treasury bills, circulated by their creatures, is a pretence, which happens, from many circumstances, to fall within my experience, to be able to place in a proper light. I hope I need not request you to believe it will be a satisfaction to me to do you justice; and as far as character is concerned, you need no more than that truth should be known."

In 1791 he drew up the Roman Catholic bill. He continued in practice as a chamber-barrister until the year 1813, when his state of health rendered retirement unavoidable. He died in August, 1821. Mr Hargrave's fame is chiefly founded on his professional publications, which, for research, solid argumentation, and masterly exposition of the principles of English law, are unrivalled. The following is a specimen of his style. It is from his Introduction to a tract by Lord Hale on the Amendment of the Law:

"It is no more than might be expected from such active zeal for public good as Lord Hale's, that, notwithstanding the unusual weight of his judicial and professional fatigues, and the variety of studies to which he was addicted independently of the law, he should be prompted to give some attention to the reduction and improvement of the laws of his country, and to encourage others in like undertakings. Long before his time Lord Bacon had anxiously laboured to accomplish a work of the same laudable kind, as appears by several of his printed works: namely, his proposal for amendment of our law, made to the crown whilst he was attorney-general; his offer, when under his disgrace and troubles, to assist in composing a digest of our laws both common and

statute; and his remarks on obscurity, accumulation, and new digests of law, in his great work 'De Augmentis Scientiarum.' Thus, even in Lord Bacon's time, the evil from the obsoleteness of various titles in our common law, and the evil from the increased bulk of our statutes, were sufficient to strike his mind as a serious one. After the Restoration both evils not only had considerably increased; but from the great revolution as to the law of real property, which then took place under the statute converting military tenures into socage, and from the increasing frequency of new laws, were likely to be yearly more aggravated. Lord Hale certainly took alarm at this prospect of growing inconveniences in a venerable and fine structure, which, from its antiquity, was already encumbered with too many useless apartments, and from the nature of our constitution was particularly open to a superabundance of new accessions. Hence, therefore, notwithstanding his apparent jealousy of the proneness to innovation for which the age in which he lived had proved itself almost characteristic, he convinced himself that some remedy was become requisite to reduce and simplify our system, as well by lopping off ancient redundancies as by encouraging an orderly digest and a correct elucidation of all the remaining matter. The former purpose could not be attained without the sanction of the legislature. Nor could either be effectuated in the best manner, without an union of private labours in the extended vineyard of juridical learning under the fostering encouragement of royal patronage. For where was the single individual equal to so vast a design? where could have been found the many qualified by education, study, and talents, for a joint-execution, whose situation would allow them to make the necessary sacrifice of their time without a prospect of retribution from their country? or how could it be expected that lawyers, such as the great Tribonian and his illustrious associates, would desert all private pursuits, and all professional emoluments, for the sake of digesting national laws, without a Justinian to patronise their toils, and to reward them with some portion of distinction and independence? Lord Bacon's discernment apparently saw the matter in this light; for from the beginning he addressed King James as if royal countenance was essential to the execution of such high plans; nor could Lord Hale be ignorant that in England such enterprises wanted the patronage of an Edward the First to feed and cherish them. So far as single persons, so much detached by public employment and important studies and occupation of another kind, could well contribute by the combined exertions of genius and learning, was performed in a very considerable degree by Bacon, and in a very wonderful one by Hale. Pity it is, that, from their times down to the present moment, the body of our law has been suffered continually and rapidly to increase, with scarce any other aids to contract its bulk or preserve its consistency than those of occasional private contribution. What would a Bacon or a Hale have said, what would they have advised, had they lived to have seen our statute law not only swelled already into more than tenfold size beyond that which so alarmed their apprehensions, but still yearly extending its dimensions, by such a ratio as must soon terminate in a bulk immeasurable by the most industrious and accomplished of legal understandings? Would two such zealous friends to English jurisprudence, far exceeding even the Tribonian and Theophilus of the school

of Roman law, have been mere spectators of the most dangerous of all juridical diseases? Would they not have generously offered their aid towards forming a plan for as gradually curing this disease of infinite accumulation as it has been gradually and almost imperceptibly contracted? Would they not, were they now living, have earnestly supplicated the sovereign, or perhaps the parliament, to save the country from that ruin which must ensue the moment the science of law and the administration of justice shall cease to be practicable? These questions lead the mind into such a field of high national topics, that I fear at this time to continue the train of thoughts which momentarily occur to me. To engage in such an enterprise at any time, or under any circumstances, might be extreme rashness in one ill situate and sparingly endowed as I am. It is an ocean far too boisterous for a little shattered bark like mine; and therefore cannot be too soon quitted."

The following is a list of Hargrave's publications: 1. The Case of James Somerset, a negro, lately determined by the Court of King's Bench, wherein it is attempted to demonstrate the unlawfulness of Slavery in England. London, 1772, 8vo. 3d edit. 1783, 4to.-2. Arguments in defence of Literary Property. London, 1774, 8vo.-3. A complete Collection of State Trials, and Proceedings for High Crimes and Misdemeanours. 4th edit. To which is prefixed a new Preface. London, 1781, fol.-4. Collection of Tracts relative to the Law of England, from Manuscripts never before published; containing, besides the following by the Editor and anonymous authors, some by Lord Chief Justice Hale, Mr George Norburie, Justice Blackstone, q. v.; One Treatise of Maisters of the Chauncerie; Two Pieces touching Suits in Chancery by Subpoena; A Discourse against the Jurisdiction of the King's Bench by Process of Latitat; Concerning the Effects of Sentences of the Courts Ecclesiastical in cases of Marriage when pleaded or offered in Evidence in the Courts Temporal, by the Editor; An Argument by the Editor on the Appeal from Chancery in the Case of Messrs Wicker and Sir Thomas and Lady Boughton, against John Mitford, Esq., delivered at the Bar of the House of Lords; and Observations concerning the Rule in Shelley's Case, viz. that Heirs of the Body, or other inheritable Words, after an Estate of Life, shall operate as Words of limitation, and of purchase; chiefly with a view to the application of that Rule to last Wills; by the Editor. Together with a Preface containing a general account of the above-mentioned tracts, and observations on the subject-matter of them. London, 1787, 4to.5. Brief Deductions relative to the Aid and Supply of the Executive Power in cases of Infancy, Delirium, or other Incapacities of the King. 1788, 4to.-6. Notes on Lord Coke's first Institutes, or Commentary on Littleton. London, 1794, 8vo.-7. The Jurisdiction of the Lords' House of Parliament considered, by Lord Chief Justice Hale; with a Preface, including a Narrative of the same Jurisdiction, from the Accession of James I. 1796, 4to.-8. Juridical Arguments and Collections. London, 1797-9. 2 vols. 4to.-9. Three Arguments in the Two Causes in Chancery, on the last Will of Peter Thelusson, Esq., with Mr Morgan's Calculation of the Accumulation under the Trusts of the Will. London, 1799, 4to.-10. Opinion in the Case of the Duke of Athol, in respect to the Isle of Man. 4to. Printed for private use.-11. Address to the Grand Jury at the Liverpool