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 ADAM AND I'HARLES BLACK'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. (A New Edition). 
 
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 4 1
 
 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY.
 
 

 
 V * 
 
 LIFE 
 
 01 
 
 LORD JEFFREY 
 
 WITH 
 
 A SELECTION FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 
 LORD COCKBURN 
 
 ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE COURT OF SESSION" IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE. 
 
 MIM CCI.II.
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 PRINTED BY R. & R. CLARK. 

 
 PREFACE. 
 
 My only apology for the presumption of en- 
 gaging in this work, is, that it was undertaken 
 at the request of the family, and of several of 
 the friends, of Lord Jeffrey. Besides other 
 objections, there is an age$ after which it is 
 seldom safe for one who has never tried to 
 write a book, to begin the attempt. 
 
 There are both advantages and disadvan- 
 tages in the nearness of a man's biography to 
 his actual life. One of the disadvantages con- 
 sists in the difficulty of speaking plainly of 
 persons still living, or recently dead. " His 
 greatest fault (says Lord Jeffrey of Hardy's 
 Life of Charlemont) is, that he does not abus< 
 anybody, even where the dignity of history and
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 of virtue calls loudly for such an infliction." 
 And, no doubt, this is a serious objection. But 
 if the biographer of Charlemont felt the indeli- 
 cacy of the censorian duty in a work published 
 eleven years after the death of his subject, how 
 would he have recoiled from it within less than 
 two? But, indeed, there were few persons whom 
 Jeffrey himself abused ; and though there were 
 some public matters connected with his life on 
 which it would not be wrong to speak, even 
 now, in terms of severe condemnation, it would 
 be unworthy of his magnanimous spirit to recal 
 provocations which he had forgotten. 
 
 My thanks are due, and are hereby given, 
 to all those who have assisted me by contribu- 
 tions of letters. 
 
 These letters will probably be deemed the 
 only valuable part of this work. It must, there- 
 fore, be explained, that he was so constant a 
 correspondent, that those now published are but 
 a small portion of what he was always writing; 
 and that his letters were generally so full <»l 
 lliose personal and domestic details, which, 
 however delightful i<> receive, are uninteresting,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and can scarcely be made even intelligible, to 
 strangers, that they very seldom admit of being 
 communicated entire. Nothing is omitted from 
 this publication for any other reason. What 
 have been selected are not given on account 
 of any particular opinions or occurrences which 
 they may record, but solely from their tendency 
 to disclose the personal nature of the man. 
 And I am bound to state, that, out of many 
 hundreds of his letters that I have seen, there 
 are scarcely three lines that might not be read 
 with propriety to any sensitive lady, or to any 
 fastidious clergyman. 
 
 Bonaly, March 1852.
 
 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Francis Jeffrey, the greatest of British critics, was 
 born in Edinburgh on the 23d of October 177o. 
 There are very few persons the precise spot of 
 whose nativity it is worth while taking much pains 
 to fix. But as almost all the accounts of Jeffrey do 
 specify a place, and a wrong one, it may be as well 
 to mention that he certainly was not bom in either 
 of the three houses, in Fisher's Land, or Patterson's 
 Court, or Buchanan's Court, all in Lawnmarket 
 Street, where the family afterwards lived ; but in 
 one of the flats or floors of what is now marked No. 
 7, on the west side of Charles Street, George Square. 
 Besides other unquestionable evidence, he himself 
 pointed this out as his birth-place to bis friend, 
 Mr. Adam Black, bookseller. 
 
 His father was George Jeffrey, who was bred to 
 the law, and became one of the Depute-Clerks in the 
 Supreme Court (called the Court of Session) ; not a 
 high, but a very respectable, situation. His mother 
 was Henrietta Louden, a daughter of Y\v. John 
 
 VOL. i. b
 
 Z LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Louden, who had been educated for the Church, 
 but abandoned it for farming, which he practised 
 near Lanark. Their children were Margaret, who 
 died in childhood ; Mary, afterwards married to 
 George Napier, Esq., a writer to the signet, Edin- 
 burgh ; Francis ; John, a merchant ; and Marion, 
 afterwards the wife of Dr. Thomas Brown, physician 
 in Glasgow, now of Langfine, in the county of Ayr. 
 Francis survived the whole family. The father, 
 who died in 1812, aged 70, was a sensible and very 
 respectable man ; but of rather a gloomy disposi- 
 tion. Mrs. Jeffrey had all the maternal virtues, and 
 was greatly beloved by her family ; the more so from 
 the contrast between her and her husband. She 
 died suddenly in September 1786. Francis, then 
 thirteen, happened to be passing a few days at 
 Stevenson, in East Lothian, about 17 miles from 
 Edinburgh. Intelligence of his mother's danger 
 reached the family he was living with ; but as it 
 was too late to get the boy into Edinburgh that 
 night, they meant to conceal it from him till next 
 day. But he had detected, or suspected it, and 
 set off next morning before the house was astir, and 
 
 * A story thai is told of a fire having broken out, when he was 
 aboul a year old, in his father's house, and of his being nearly 
 sacrificed by having been forgotten in his garret crib, till rescued 
 by a poor sinter, whom he lived to save in return long afterwards 
 by gratuitous professional services, is, unfortunately, groundless. 
 h has probably arisen from some confusion with a fire which con- 
 sumed hisfather's house in 1792, when he was at Oxford, and when 
 it was witli difficulty thai his grandmother was rescued by her grand- 
 daughter, Mary Crokett, afterwards Mrs. Murray.
 
 HIGH school. 3 
 
 walked home alone. The loss of their mother drew 
 the children closer to each other, and the warmest 
 affection subsisted between them throughout their 
 whole lives. 
 
 Francis learned his mere letters at home ; and 
 -John Cockbnrn, who had a school in the abyss of 
 Bailie Fyfe's Close, taught him to put them to- 
 gether. He was the tiniest possible child, but dark 
 and vigorous, and gained some reputation there 
 while still in petticoats. One Scaly had the honour 
 of giving him his whole dancing education, which 
 was over before his ninth year began. It is to be 
 hoped, for Mr. Sealy's sake, that this pupil was not 
 the best specimen of his skill ; for certainly neither 
 dancing, nor any muscular accomplishment, except 
 walking, at which he was always excellent, were 
 within his triumphs. 
 
 The more serious part of his education com- 
 menced in October 1781 ; when, at the age of eight, 
 he was sent to the High School of Edinburgh, where 
 he continued for the next six years. This day 
 school had long been the most celebrated establish- 
 ment of the kind in this country. Its mere anti- 
 quity gave it importance, and its position, as the 
 metropolitan school, enabled it to look down upon 
 the few rival institutions that then existed. Its 
 triumph was completed by its not having been then 
 discovered that interchanging Scotch and English 
 boys did good to both, and by the total absence 
 of the idea, which has since taken possession of so 
 many weak heads, that whenever a boy is supposed
 
 4 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 to be not signalising himself in Scotland, sending 
 him to England, instead of stupifying him, must 
 set him up. So that in addition to its age, its fame, 
 and its merits, it had the still greater advantage of 
 a monopoly, and this in the place where the aristo- 
 cracy of Scotland chiefly resided. It had then 
 what would now be deemed intolerable defects ; 
 but defects of the age, and not of the place, and 
 which do not now exist. And it was cursed by two 
 under masters, whose atrocities young men cannot 
 be made to believe, but old men cannot forget, and 
 the criminal law would not now endure. It was 
 presided over, however, by Dr. Alexander Adam, 
 the author of the Roman Antiquities, whose personal 
 and professional virtues were sufficient to sustain, 
 and to redeem, any school ; and in his two other 
 under masters, Mr. Luke Fraser and Mr. French, he 
 had associates worthy of their chief. 
 
 His first master was Mr. Fraser; who from 
 three successive classes, of four years each, had the 
 singular good fortune to turn out Walter Scott, 
 
 * Tlic school still survives, and flourishes. Dr. Adam was 
 succeeded in 1810 by Professor Pillans, who introduced the modern 
 spirit of teaching, and as many of the modern improvements as was 
 wi.se for the place, and was probably the best head master of a 
 3cotch classical school that had then appeared. He, when ad- 
 vanced in 1820 to a chair in the College, was succeeded by the 
 late excellent Dr. Carson; who, on his retirement, made way for 
 the present rector, Dr. Schmitz; whose Learning is an honour to the 
 institution, and whose ability as a teacher, and worth as a man, 
 give the school all that strong claim to public support that the 
 eminence of a bead master ouerhl to confer.
 
 i i Kill SCHOOL. 5 
 
 Francis Jeffrey, and Henry Brougham. He is justly 
 
 described by Scott as " a good Latin scholar, and a 
 very worthy man." There were about 120 boys in 
 Jeffrey's class, all under one master, unaided by any 
 usher. When Jeffrey was in his seventeenth year, he 
 wrote " A Sketch," &c , full of personal recollections 
 and views. In this paper he gives the following ac- 
 count of his first day's sensations at this school. " My 
 next step was to the Grammar school; and here my 
 apprehensions and terrors were revived and magni- 
 fied; for my companions, either through a desire of 
 terrifying me, or because they had found it so, ex- 
 aggerated to me the difficulty of our tasks, and 
 dwelled upon the unrelenting severity of the master. 
 Prepossessed with these representations, 1 trembled 
 at what I was destined to sutler, and entered the 
 school as if it had been a place of torture. Never, 
 I think, was surprise equal to mine, the first day of 
 my attendance. I sat in silent terror — all was buzz 
 and tumult around — a foot is heard on the stairs — 
 everything is hushed as death, and every dimply 
 smile prolongated into an expression of the most 
 serious respect. The handle of the door sounds — 
 ah ! here he comes ! — I thought my heart would 
 have burst my breast. There began my disappoint- 
 ment. I had expected to have seen a little withered 
 figure, with a huge rod in his hand, his eyes spark- 
 ling; with rage, and his whole attitude resembling 
 the pictures and descriptions of the furies. Absurd 
 as the idea was, I don't know how it had laid hold 
 of my imagination, and 1 was surprised to see it
 
 6 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 reversed; and reversed it certainly was. For Mr. 
 Fraser was a plump, jolly, heavy-looking man, 
 rather foolish-like as otherwise, and in my opinion 
 would have made a better landlord than a peda- 
 gogue. He seats himself, looks smilingly around, 
 asks some simple questions, and seems well pleased 
 with answers, which I knew I could have made. 
 I was struck; I could hardly believe my own senses; 
 and every moment I looked for the appearance of 
 that rod which had so terrified my apprehensions. 
 The rod, however, made not its appearance. I grew 
 quiet, but still fixed in a stupor of wonder. I gazed 
 at the object before me, and listened with the most 
 awful attention to all the trifling words that dropped 
 from his lips. At last he dismissed us, and I re- 
 turned home full of satisfaction, and told eagerly to 
 every one around me my expectations and disap- 
 pointment." 
 
 He continued with Mr. Fraser four years, Learning 
 only Latin. Greek and Mathematics were pro- 
 scribed. His few surviving class-fellows only recol- 
 lect him as a little, clever, anxious hoy, always near 
 the to]) of the class, and who never lost a place 
 without shedding tears. He says, in the Sketch, that 
 he was u not without rivals, and one of them at 
 leasl go1 the better, being decidedly superior in 
 several points."' I have not been able to discover 
 even the name of his solitary victor. 
 
 In October L785, lie passed on to the Rector's 
 class, where he remained two years. He was here 
 in the midst of one hundred and forty boys, one-half
 
 HIGH SCHOOL. 7 
 
 of whom was a year in advance of the other half, 
 
 but all in one room, and at the same time, and all 
 under a single master. But this master was Adam, 
 who added some Greek to the Latin, and delighted 
 in the detection and encouragement of every appear- 
 ance of youthful talent or goodness. " It was from 
 this respectable man (says Scott) that I first learned 
 the value of the knowledge I had hitherto considered 
 only as a burdensome task." Jeffrey, through life, 
 recollected him with the same judicious gratitude. 
 Of this class he says, " During my first year (with 
 Fraser) I acknowledged only one superior ; in the 
 last there were not less than ten who ranked above 
 me." Whether they were of the ten or not, the only 
 two of his schoolfellows whom I have been able to 
 trace into any distinction, are, the Eev. Dr. Brunton, 
 Professor of Oriental Literature, and Dr. Alexander 
 Munro, the third of his illustrious line, Professor of 
 Anatomy, both in the College of Edinburgh. 
 
 Voluntary reading was not much in fashion then 
 with the High School boys; but Jeffrey had not 
 neglected it utterly, or been frivolous in his selection; 
 for besides some travels and natural history, the 
 library register shows that he was rather steady in 
 the perusal of Hume's History, and of Middleton's 
 Life of Cicero. 
 
 Thus six years passed away : and without being 
 marked by any of those early achievements or indi- 
 cations which biography seems to think so necessary 
 for its interest, and is therefore so apt to detect, or 
 to invent, in the dawnings of those who have risen
 
 b LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 to future eminence. He escaped being made a 
 wonder of. Forty years after leaving the school he 
 testified his recollection of it by contributing £50 
 towards its removal to its present beautiful building, 
 and noble site. 
 
 One day, in the winter of 1786-7, he was standing 
 on the High Street, staring at a man whose appear- 
 ance struck him ; a person standing at a shop door 
 tapped him on the shoulder, and said, " Aye laddie! 
 ye may weel look at that man! That's Robert 
 Burns." He never saw Burns again. 
 
 In the beginning of the winter of 1787, he was 
 sent to Glasgow College, in his fourteenth year. This 
 is often a dangerous liberation •, but it was very salu- 
 tary for one whose ambition was already awakened, 
 and whose taste was beginning to feel the literary 
 attractions which proved the delight of his life. 
 Exemption from the task-work of school, and getting 
 into a region of new scenes, and with higher pur- 
 suits, and more independence, was the very change 
 which his progress required. I believe that Glasgow 
 was preferred, with a view to the Oxford exhibi- 
 tions, to which it has long owed so many of its 
 besl students, and of which it has in general made 
 so fail- a use. None of our other colleges have such 
 academic prizes. If there be any rich Scotchman 
 who is now thinking of perpetuating his name by 
 public munificence, let him not waste himself on 
 hospitals, or such common objects,, hut let him think 
 
 Bj M r, Thomas I [amilton, Architect.
 
 GLASGOW COLLEGE. 9 
 
 of the depressing poverty of his native colleges, and 
 of the honour which a long roll of distinguished 
 men, receiving the higher part of their education 
 through his bounty, has, for a century and a half, 
 conferred on the founder of the Glasgow exhibitions. 
 But if Jeffrey's father had any such view, it was 
 soon abandoned. 
 
 He remained at Glasgow for two sessions, that 
 is, from October 1787 to May 1788, and from October 
 1788 to May 1789, and was at home during the in- 
 tervening summers. In his first session his classes 
 were the Greek, taught by Professor John Young, 
 and the Logic, by Professor John Jardine. Neither 
 masters nor pupil could have been better suited for 
 each other. They gave him good teaching, and he 
 took them a spirit most anxious to be taught. 
 Jardine, in particular, though recently appointed, 
 and conspicuous neither for ability nor for learning, 
 had already evinced that singular power of making 
 youths work, which, for the forty subsequent years, 
 made his class the intellectual grindstone of the 
 college. Jeffrey seems to have fancied at first that 
 Jardine did not take sufficient notice of him ; but lie 
 soon formed a steady friendship with both him and 
 Young, and never forgot what he owed them. There 
 was an article in the Edinburgh Review in ISlM 
 (No. 70, Art. 3) on classical education, shortly after 
 Mr. Young's death. It was not written by Jeffrey, 
 but he added a discriminating note explaining 
 Young's merits (p. 308) ; and in addressing the 
 college on his first inauguration as rector, he nun-
 
 10 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 tioned him and Jardine in grateful and affectionate 
 terms. Of Jardine lie says, " I cannot resist con- 
 gratulating myself, and all this assembly, that I 
 still see beside me one surviving instructor of my 
 early youth, — the most revered, the most justly 
 valued, of all my instructors, — the individual of 
 whom I must be allowed to say here, what I have 
 never omitted to say in every other place, that it is 
 to him, and his most judicious instructions, that I 
 owe my taste for letters, and any little literary dis- 
 tinction I may since have been enabled to attain. 
 It is no small part of the gratification of this day to 
 find him here, proceeding, with unabated vigour and 
 ardour, in the eminently useful career to which his 
 life has been dedicated ; and I hope and trust that 
 he will yet communicate to many generations of 
 pupils those inestimable benefits to which many 
 may easily do greater honour, but for which no one 
 can be more grateful than the humble individual 
 who now addresses you." 
 
 The only class that I can ascertain his having 
 attended during his second session, was the Moral 
 Philosophy, under Professor Arthur; who, being the 
 assistant and successor of Rcid, must be supposed to 
 bave been a person of some merit. 
 
 Professor John Millar, whose subject was Law 
 and Government, was then in his zenith. His lec- 
 tures were admirable; and so was his conversation; 
 and his evening parties ; and his boxing (gloved) with 
 his favourite pupils. No young man admitted to his 
 house ever forgol him ; and the ablesl \\^'(\ to say that
 
 GLASGOW COLLEGE. 1 1 
 
 the discussions into which he led them, domestically 
 and convivially, were the most exciting and the most 
 
 instructive exercises in which they ever took a part. 
 Jeffrey says that liis books, excellent though they 
 be, "reveal nothing of that magical vivacity which 
 made his conversation and his lectures still more 
 full of delight than of instruction ; of that frankness 
 and fearlessness which led him to engag'e, without 
 preparation, in every fair contention, and neither to 
 dread nor disdain the powers of any opponent ; and 
 still less, perhaps, of that remarkable and unique 
 talent, by which he was enabled to clothe, in concise 
 and familiar expressions, the most profound and 
 original views of the most complicated questions; 
 and thus to render the knowledge which he com- 
 municated so manageable and unostentatious, as 
 to turn out his pupils from the sequestered retreats 
 of a college, in a condition immediately to apply 
 their acquisitions to the business and affairs of the 
 world." (Rectorial Address.) 
 
 It has been supposed that this description could 
 only have been drawn by one who had attended the 
 course; but this is a mistake. It was the result of 
 subsequent acquaintance, and of common tame ; for 
 he was never one of Millar's pupils. This is con- 
 firmed by the class lists, which have been preserved, 
 and do not contain Jeffrey's name; and by two of 
 Mr. Millar's daughters, recently, if not still, alive, 
 who remember their father and Jeffrey's introduction 
 to each other, which took place in the theatre, some 
 years after the latter had left Glasgow. The truth is,
 
 12 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 that Millar's free doctrines, and his Whig party, 
 were held in abhorrence by Mr. Jeffrey senior; 
 who, after it appeared that the political opinions of 
 Francis were on the popular side, and incorrigible, 
 used to blame himself for having allowed the mere 
 vicinity of Millar's influence to corrupt and ruin 
 his son. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Macfarlaiie, now Principal of the 
 College of Glasgow, and the Rev. Dr. Haldane, 
 now Principal of the College of St. Mary's, St. An- 
 drews, were fellow-students with Jeffrey at Glasgow, 
 and have given me some information about his state 
 and proceedings there. Principal Macfarlane says, 
 that, during his first session, " he exhibited nothing 
 remarkable except a degree of quickness, bordering, 
 as some thought, on petulance ; and the whim of 
 cherishing a premature moustache, very black, and 
 covering the whole of his upper lip, for which lie 
 was much laughed at and teased by his fellow- 
 students." But there was no want of spirit; for 
 Adam Smith had been set up that year for the 
 office of Lord Rector, which depends on the votes 
 of the professors and students, and Principal Hal- 
 dane recollects seeing ;( little black creature, whom 
 he had not observed before, haranguing some boys 
 in the Green against voting for Dr. Smith. This 
 was Jeffrey. Not that he had any objection either 
 to the Wealth of Nations or to its author; but the 
 Economist was patronised by the professors, which 
 has often made the students take the opposite 
 side. The opposition, however, was withdrawn,
 
 GLASGOW COLLEGE. 13 
 
 and, on the 12th of December 1787, Smith was 
 installed. It is very unlikely that Jeffrey would 
 miss seeing such a ceremony, in honour of such a 
 man; but an expression in his own Inaugural Ad- 
 dress, where he says that Smith u is reported to have 
 remained silent," seems to throw a doubt on his 
 presence. 
 
 In his second session he disclosed himself more 
 satisfactorily. Principal Macfarlane says " He broke 
 upon us very brilliantly. In a debating society 
 called, I think, the Historical and Critical, he dis- 
 til iguished himself as one of the most acute and 
 fluent speakers; his favourite subjects being cri- 
 ticism and metaphysics." Professor Jardine used 
 to require his pupils to write an exercise, and then 
 to make them give in written remarks on each 
 other's work. Principal Haldane's essay fell to be 
 examined by Jeffrey, who, on this occasion pro- 
 bably, made his first critical adventure. "My exer- 
 cise (says the Principal) fell into the hands of Jeffrey, 
 and sorely do I repent that I did not preserve the 
 essay, with his remarks upon it. For though they 
 were unmercifully severe, they gave early promise of 
 that critical acumen which was afterwards fully de- 
 veloped in the pages of the Edinburgh Review. In 
 returning my essay to me, the good professor, willing 
 to save my feelings, read some of the remarks at the 
 beginning of the criticism, but the remainder he read 
 in a suppressed tone of voice, muttering something as 
 if he thought it too severe." The first prize in the 
 Logic class was awarded, by the votes of the pupils,
 
 14 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 to a person called Godfrey ; but lie was much older 
 than Jeffrey, who, Principal Haldane says, had, all 
 throughout, made " a brilliant figure," and was, 
 "unquestionably, the ablest student of the class." 
 
 Some of the pupils formed themselves into the 
 Elocution Society, which met every Monday even- 
 ing, for their improvement in recitation. From 
 recitation to acting is but a short step ; and, accord- 
 ingly, they meant to have performed Tancred and 
 Sigismunda, when Principal Macfarlane was to have 
 shone as Rodolpho, and Jeffrey as Sigismunda. 
 But as an apartment within the college was to 
 have been the theatre, the academical authorities 
 stopped the scheme, to the rage of the disappointed 
 actors. On the last page of his notes of Professor 
 Arthur's lectures, Jeffrey sets forth that, before 
 finally leaving the college, he had one thing to 
 " advise, to declare, to reprobate, to ask, and to 
 wish." — " What I have to advise is, Mr. Arthur and 
 the Principal to pay a little more attention to the 
 Graces in their respective modes of lecturing and 
 praying." — u What 1 declare is, that the Faculty 
 lias acted in the meanest, most illiberal, and despi- 
 cable manner with regard to the Elocution Club." — 
 &C. &C. 
 
 He began here the practice, to which he steadily 
 adhered, of taking full notes of all the lectures he 
 heard; — not mere transcripts of what the lecturer 
 said, but expositions by the pupil, in his own 
 language, of what he had meant, with discussions of 
 the doctrines. Hence, even the division of sepa-
 
 LETTER TO DR. ADAM. L5 
 
 rate prelections is seldom regularly observed; but 
 the whole course is run together, in a way which, 
 while it does not swamp the professor, afforded an 
 excellent exercise for the student, both in thinking 
 and composing. 
 
 The turn that his mind was taking is evinced by 
 the following letter to his old master, Dr. Adam, 
 which, for a boy of fifteen, seems to be curious : — 
 " Dear Sir, I do not question that you will be sur- 
 prised at the freedom of this uninvited intrusion; 
 and when I tell you (by way of apology) that for 
 these some weeks I have been impelled to the deed 
 by the impulse of some internal agent, I question if 
 your surprise will be diminished. As a student of 
 philosophy I thought myself bound to withstand the 
 temptation, and as an adept in logic, to analyse the 
 source of its effects. Both attempts have been 
 equally unsuccessful. I have neither been able to 
 resist the inclination, nor to discover its source. My 
 great affection for the study of mind led me a weary 
 way before I abandoned this attempt ; nor did I 
 leave the track of enquiry till I thought I had dis- 
 covered that it proceeded from some emotion in the 
 powers of the will rather than of the intellect. My 
 epistolary communications have hitherto been con- 
 fined to those whom I could treat with all the fami- 
 liarity of the most perfect equality, and whose 
 experience or attainments I was not accustomed to 
 consider as superior to my own. This, I think, will 
 account and apologise for any peculiarity you may 
 discern in my style. I think it superfluous to assure
 
 16 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 you, that whatever appearance of levity or petulance 
 that may bear, the slightest, the most distant, shadow 
 of disrespect was never intended. When I recol- 
 lect the mass of instruction I have received from 
 your care — when I consider the excellent principles 
 it was calculated to convey — when I contemplate 
 the perspicuous, attentive, and dispassionate mode 
 of conveyance — and, when I experience the advan- 
 tages and benefits of all these, I cannot refrain the 
 gratification of a finer feeling in the acknowledg- 
 ment of my obligations. I am sufficiently sensible 
 that these are hackneyed and cant phrases; but, as 
 they express the sentiments of my soul, I think they 
 must be tolerated. If you ever find leisure to notice 
 this, I shall esteem your answer as a particular 
 honour ; and that you may more easily accomplish 
 that, I inform you that I lodge at Mr. Milne's, Mon- 
 trose Lodgings. So — this is an introductory letter ! 
 It wants indeed the formality of such a performance ; 
 but the absence of that requisite may for once be 
 supplied by the sincerity with which I assure you I 
 am, dear sir, yours, etc. &c, F. Jeffrey. — Glasgow, 
 January 1789." 
 
 To this communication the worthy rector scut 
 the following answer: — Edinburgh, January 1789 — 
 " I received your favour with great pleasure, and 
 the more so as yon say it has proceeded from an 
 emotion in the powers of the will rather than the 
 intellect. I perceive, however, it has been the joint 
 effect of both, and I am happy to observe the lat- 
 ter so well cultivated. For your sentiments and
 
 TIKI; PROM DR. ADAM. 1 i 
 
 expressions are such as indicate no small proficiency 
 
 in the studies in which you have been engaged. I 
 should have shewn you how much 1 valued your 
 epistolary communications by acknowledging them 
 in course ; but I delayed it till I should have a 
 little more leisure. It is long since I have relin- 
 quished the field of metaphysical speculation, other- 
 wise I should answer you in kind. I was very fond 
 of these studies at your time of life; but I have 
 exchanged them, if not for more entertaining, at 
 least for more practical, pursuits; as I hope you 
 will soon do, with all the success which your 
 industry and talents merit. You need not be afraid 
 to take up hackneyed phrases ; for it is the pro- 
 perty of genius to convert everything to its own 
 use, and to give the most common things a new 
 appearance. I thank you for your very polite com- 
 pliments. You have handsomely expressed what I 
 have at least attempted, for I have not yet effected 
 what I wished. There is much room for improve- 
 ment in the plan of education in this country ; but 
 there are so many obstacles to it, that I begin to 
 despair of seeing it accomplished. One thing gives 
 me the greatest satisfaction — that in our universi- 
 ties, and particularly in yours — young men have 
 the best opportunities of acquiring extensive know- 
 ledge, and the most liberal principles. I hope you 
 will never forget to join classical elegance with 
 philosophical accuracy and investigation. Even 
 the mechanical part of writing is not below your 
 attention. You sec 1 the freedom which you are 
 vol. i. c
 
 18 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 always to expect from nie, and I know you will 
 take it in good part." 
 
 It would have been comfortable to Jeffrey's 
 many correspondents if he had taken the rector's 
 hint about the mechanical part of writing. His 
 incapacity of manuscript seems to have been a very 
 early subject of domestic censure. He tells his sis- 
 ter Mary about this time, " 1 am sure I would 
 willingly forfeit any of my attainments to acquire 
 a good form of writing. For I am convinced much 
 more time and trouble have I bestowed upon this, 
 without effect, than would have been sufficient for the 
 acquisition of a much more complex object. The 
 truth is, I detest the employment. Such a mecha- 
 nical drudgery ! and without any certainty of the 
 attainment of my end." Of course, the detestation 
 prevailed, and a more illegible hand has very rarely 
 tormented friends. The plague of small and mis- 
 shapen letters is aggravated by a love of contrac- 
 tions, and an aversion to the relief of new para- 
 graphs. There arc whole volumes, and even an 
 entire play, with the full complement of acts and 
 scenes, without a new line. Here, however, as in 
 everything else, he improved as he advanced. 
 
 To those who only knew him in his maturity, 
 there was nothing more prominent in the character 
 of his intellect than its quickness. He seemed to 
 invent arguments, and to pour out views, and to 
 arrive at conclusions, instinctively. Preparation was 
 a thing with which it was thought that so elastic a 
 spirit did not require to !><■ encumbered. Neverthe-
 
 KAKIA [NDUSTRY. L9 
 
 less, quick though he undoubtedly was, no slow 
 mind was ever aided by steadier industry. It' there 
 be any thing valuable in the history of his progress, 
 it seems to me to consist chiefly in the example of 
 meritorious labour which his ease exhibits to young 
 men, even of the highest talent. If he had chosen 
 to be idle, no youth would have bad a stronger 
 temptation or a better excuse for that habit ; be- 
 cause his natural vigour made it easy for him to 
 accomplish far more than his prescribed tasks re- 
 spectably, without much trouble, and with the 
 additional applause of doing them off hand. But 
 his early passion for distinction was never separated 
 from the conviction, that in order to obtain it, he 
 must work for it. 
 
 Accordingly, bom his very boyhood, he was not 
 only a diligent, but a very systematic student ; and 
 in particular, he got very early into the invaluable 
 habit of accompanying all his pursuits by collateral 
 composition ; never for the sake of display, but 
 solely for his own culture. The steadiness with 
 which this almost daily practice was adhered to, 
 would be sufficiently attested by the mass of his 
 writings which happens to be preserved ; though 
 these be obviously only small portions of what he 
 must have executed. There are notes of lectures, 
 essays, translations, abridgements, speeches, criti- 
 cisms, tales, poems, &c. ; not one of them done 
 from accidental or momentary impulse, but all 
 wrought out by perseverance and forethought, with 
 a view to his <»wn improvement. And it is now
 
 20 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 interesting to observe how very soon he fell into 
 that line of criticism which afterwards was the 
 business of his life. Nearly the whole of his early 
 original prose writings are of a critical character ; 
 and this inclination towards analysis and apprecia- 
 tion was so strong, that almost every one of his 
 compositions closes by a criticism on himself. 
 
 Of these papers only four, written at Glasgow, 
 remain. They are on the Benevolent Affections, 
 the Immortality of the Soul, the Law of Primo- 
 geniture, and Sorcery and Incantation. The one on 
 the Benevolent Affections, extending to about 50 
 folio pages of ordinary writing, is the earliest of his 
 surviving compositions. Both in its style and its 
 reasoning, it seems to me an extraordinary perform- 
 ance for his age. 
 
 He was occasionally assisted in his Glasgow 
 studies by Mr. James Marshall, who was soon after- 
 wards appointed one of the college chaplains; and 
 at last had the charge of the Presbyterian Congre- 
 gation of Waterford, where he died in 1827. He 
 was an able and accomplished man, of consider- 
 able colloquial powers, and greatly respected. His 
 pupil and he kept up their acquaintance so long as 
 Mr. Marshal] lived. 
 
 The pupil was subject at this time, or supposed 
 so, to what lie deemed superstitious fears; to cure 
 himself* of which he used to walk alone at mid- 
 night round the Cathedral and its grave-yard, 
 which were then far more solitary than they arc 
 now.
 
 BETWEEN GLASGOW AND OXFORD. 2 1 
 
 After leaving Glasgow, in May ITS'.), be re- 
 amed home, and remained in and about Edin- 
 burgh till September 1791, when he went to Ox- 
 ford. During this long and important interval he 
 seems, fortunately, to have been left entirely to 
 himself. There is no reason to suppose that he 
 attended any of the Edinburgh College classes, 
 except a course of Scotch Law by Professor David 
 Hume, (Session, 1789-90), and of Civil Law by Mr. 
 Dick, (Session 1790-91), and he was not even dis- 
 tracted by companions. He had scarcely a single 
 intimate associate beyond his own relations. The 
 pi ace he most delighted to go to was Herbertshire, 
 in the county of Stirling, belonging to his uncle-in- 
 law, William Morehead, Esq. He was strongly 
 attached to that gentleman, and to all his family. 
 His son Robert was his great friend through life. 
 The place was then entire, well kept, and unpolluted 
 by manufactures ; the house full of good plate and 
 good pictures, with a sumptuous cellar, and a 
 capital library. The happiest days of his youth 
 were those spent there. He once made me go with 
 him from Stirling to see it; but it was deformed 
 and impoverished, and saddened by many painful 
 changes ; and he came away, resolving never to see 
 it again. 
 
 No period of his youth was passed more usefully 
 than this ; when he was left to his own thoughts 
 and to his own occupations. He adhered so steadily 
 in what he calls the " Dear, retired, adored, little win- 
 dow" of his Lawnmarket garret, to his system of self
 
 22 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 working that, though leading a very cheerful and 
 open air life, the papers of his composition that re- 
 main, deducting articles of only a sheet or two, are 
 about sixty in number. This is not mentioned in 
 order to earn for him the foolish and unfortunate 
 praise too often given to prematurity, but as facts 
 in the history of the individual, and because they 
 reveal the culture which was rewarded by the subse- 
 quent harvest. Besides various lighter pages, there 
 are among these exercises, translations of Cicero, 
 pro Ligario and pro Milone, an epitome of Gillies's 
 Greece, a Discourse on Ancient and Modern Learn- 
 ing, Notes from Beattie's Essays, Remarks on Compo- 
 sition, chiefly in favour of the reality of happy 
 moments, an Essay on Happiness, one on Physiog- 
 nomy, a clever and well written refutation of 
 Lavater, one on Poetry, being an excellent dis- 
 course on the poetical character, four sermons, and 
 a long poem on Dreaming. Several other papers of 
 a higher order, however excellent, owe their prin- 
 cipal interest now to the criticisms on themselves 
 by which they are closed. 
 
 Some of these are as follows : — 
 
 " Excerpts carptatim from Blackstone's Com- 
 mentaries;" being, besides excerpts, a condensed ex- 
 position and discussion of the author's doctrines. 
 
 Sonic translations from Livv ; among others, 
 • L The speech ofAppian Claudius against the motion for 
 withdrawing the army from the siege of VeiV It is not 
 a had translation ; but the best of it is these closing 
 remarks :— " The contents of the preceding pages arc
 
 EARLY EXERCISES. 23 
 
 certainly not estimable productions, nor are the 
 moments which were spent in their composition to 
 be recalled with that complacency which generally 
 attends the recollection of well-spent time. They 
 are neither, however, totally contemptible, nor alto- 
 gether without use. The translation is of that vague 
 and licentious nature which scruples not to insert 
 any extraneous ideas which seem entitled to a place, 
 or to omit such as appear to be unjustly admitted. 
 The habits of the oratorical and florid style that I 
 have assumed, though totally improper for any other 
 species of composition, are sometimes beneficial to 
 those, who, like me, have some prospect of one day speak- 
 ing in public. At any rate, the practice of it, as it 
 increases the store of new expressions, has a neces- 
 sary and rapid tendency to enrich and enlarge our 
 common language ; and it appears to me that those 
 benefits are more certainly, or, at least, more easily, 
 acquired from aiming at this sort of luxuriance in 
 translation, than in original composition, both be- 
 cause it is difficult to invent topics so well adapted 
 to the embellishments of oratory as the genius of 
 the ancients has preserved, and chiefly because the 
 mind, not being at all occupied about the sentiments 
 or sense of the work, is at full leisure to attend to 
 the expression, which, in original composition, must 
 always be a secondary object. It is, after all, how- 
 ever, but a work of indolence; and so little exertion 
 is requisite to succeed in it, as well as it is possible 
 for me to succeed, that I suspect there is more of 
 ostentation and self-flattery than real love of know-
 
 24: LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 ledge, or desire of improvement, in thus formally 
 writing down what I could go on to translate ex- 
 tempore with verv little or no hesitation. To all 
 conscientious rebukes of this nature, I reply in a set 
 form, — It is better than doing nothing. — F. J. 
 December 14th, 1790." 
 
 u An Epitome of Lucretius, or the nature of things" 
 ends thus : — " The epitome I have now completed of 
 this beautiful author is, I am sensible, a very dis- 
 graceful performance. The poetical beauties of the 
 original are entirely lost; the ingenious climax of 
 argument which he has uniformly adopted, as well 
 as the rhetorical declamation he has employed to 
 enforce them, are also necessarily annihilated in a 
 work which only gives the result of the progress, 
 and is contented with barely stating the sum of the 
 reasoning. For any other person's undertaking a 
 work like this, I should, I believe, be as much puz- 
 zled to discover a reason, as they may possibly be 
 to account for my attempting it. The explication 
 of the matter is this : — Having beard the philosophy 
 of Lucretius much undervalued, and partly ridiculed, 
 by personages whose condemnation I have been 
 accustomed to regard as an infallible token of merit 
 in the object o!' it, I resolved as usual to employ my 
 own judgment, cither to reverse or confirm their 
 award. A bare perusal I at first thought would be 
 sufficient for this purpose; but so uniformly was I 
 transported and carried away l>v the charms of the 
 poetry, and the inimitable strength of the expres- 
 sions, that I generally forgol the subject <>n which
 
 EARLY EXERCISES. 25 
 
 they were displayed — and in the enthusiasm of ad- 
 miration, lost that cool impartiality which alone can 
 produce a correct judgment. It was necessary, then, 
 to divest the philosophy — the reason— of this poem 
 of that blaze of light, which, by dazzling the senses, 
 prevented them from judging truly. I have done 
 so, and the few preceding pages contain the execu- 
 tion. This is all I think necessary to write for my 
 future information. The result of my experiment 1 
 do not choose to perpetuate. My judgment, I hope, 
 for some years, will not at least be decaying — and 
 while that is not the case, I should wish it always 
 to form its daily opinion from a daily exertion; 
 The authority of our own opinion, though perhaps 
 the least dangerous of any, still participates in those 
 inconveniences which all species of authority create, 
 and while a man's powers are unimpaired, it were a 
 lucky thing if he could every day forget the senti- 
 ments of the former, that they might receive the cor- 
 rection or confirmation of a second judgment. — Edin- 
 burgh, September 3, 1790."— F. J. 
 
 A discourse without any title, but which is on 
 the terms and the ideas, poetry and prose, termi- 
 nates thus : — " I do not like this piece. But of 
 which of my productions can I not say the same? 
 Here, however, it is said with peculiar energy. The 
 style is glaringly unequal ; affectedly plain in the 
 beginning, oratorical in the end. The design is not 
 one, and I am afraid the sentiments not consistent. 
 It is proper to remark that the word prose, which is 
 the only one 1 can find antithetical to poesy, is not
 
 26 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 qualified for that station 5 for it implies, I believe, 
 merely a mechanical distinction, and is properly 
 opposed to verse. This has occasioned part of the 
 confusion I lament. This is not the time to add, or 
 to correct ; but before I had done asserting* the con- 
 trary, I began to suspect that the old ground of discri- 
 mination was preferable to my mode of abrogating 
 it, and that we were in the wrong to give a more ex- 
 tensive meaning to the term poetical, when applied 
 to a sentiment, or genius, which ought only to 
 signify that they were peculiarly fit to be exposed 
 in that style, which (though not from any magical 
 or innate sympathy) had been most usually allotted 
 to the expression of those ideas. Were I to proceed 
 to unfold this new idea at full length, I would very 
 likely, in the course of my defence of it, discover 
 some new obstacle to my belief, which might return 
 me to my abdicated opinion, or perhaps turn me 
 over to yet another, which might serve me in the 
 same way. 1 have no mind to encounter such a 
 hydra."— F.J. 
 
 This is his apology for a translation of part of 
 Racine's Britannicus into blank verse — "This bar- 
 barous version of the elegant Racine, I feel myself 
 bound to sligniafizc with its genuine character, that 
 as often as the proofs of my stupidity, displayed on 
 the foregoing pages, shall mortify my pride, I may 
 be comforted by the instance of candour set forth on 
 this. A.t those moments, too, I would likewise have 
 it known, that these verses, if so thev mav be called, 
 were written down just as they were composed, and
 
 EARLY EXERCISES. Zi 
 
 with more rapidity than 1 in general blot my prose. 
 Fully satisfied with my performance, and fully con- 
 vinced that anv purpose I had in view is abundantly 
 fulfilled, T think it unnecessary to labour through 
 another act, and have just sensibility enough to 
 restrain me from unnecessarily mangling more of so 
 complete an original. I find myself not a little 
 puzzled to assign any use to which this work may 
 be put. Though, upon reflection. I find that it may 
 be of some service to me in the labours of future 
 days, and, by being compared with any of my more 
 correct performances, will serve as a perpetual foil, 
 and stimulate my exertion, by showing me how 
 much my late works surpassed my earlier. It would 
 not perhaps be inexcusable if I should insist that, 
 being written with that design, the multiplicity of 
 its imperfections is commendable. — F. J. — Edin- 
 burgh, October 29, 1790." 
 
 Four Speeches are supposed to be addressed to the 
 House of Commons. The first is entitled " Oration is 
 Exemplar^ the second, " Tenuis" the third, " Medio- 
 cris" the fourth, " Sublimis." Exemplar is on the 
 constitutional control of the Commons over the pub- 
 lic expenditure. Tenuis urges the abolition of the 
 slave trade ; and Mediocris is a fierce onset on a 
 member who had agreed with him in this, but puts 
 it on a bad ground, and u was somewhat too abstruse 
 and metaphysical for my comprehension." Sublimis 
 fulminates against a wretch who had actually de- 
 fended the trade. But then, "the proceedings of 
 this day, Mr. Speaker, have caused me to feel mor<
 
 28 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 shame and sorrow than I ever believed could fall to 
 the lot of integrity and honour ; and I am the more 
 severely affected by their oppression, as they have 
 assailed me from a quarter whence they were little 
 expected, and have flowed from a source which I 
 used to regard as the fountain of my happiness and 
 pride," &c. 
 
 u My opinions of some authors" is a collection of 
 short critical judgments. He says in a note, " I 
 have only ventured to characterise those who have 
 actually undergone my perusal." Yet they are fifty in 
 number ; and besides most of the English classics, 
 include Fenelon, Voltaire, Marmontel, Le Sage, 
 Moliere, Racine, Rousseau, Rollen, Buffon, Montes- 
 quieu, &c. His perusal of many of these must have 
 been very partial ; yet it is surprising how just most 
 of his conceptions of their merits and defects art'. 
 Many of these criticisms, especially of English 
 writers, such as Dry den, Locke, and Pope, are 
 written in a style of acute and delicate discrimina- 
 tion, and express the ultimate opinions of his 
 maturer years. Johnson, as might be expected of a 
 youth, is almost the only one whom he rates far 
 higher then than he did afterwards. 
 
 There are twelve Letters, each somewhat longer 
 than a paper of the Spectator, addressed to an ima- 
 ginary " My Deai- Sir," and subscribed by I'/tiloso- 
 phus, Simulator, Proteus, Scrutator, Solomon, &c., and 
 all dated duly ITS'.). They are all on literary and 
 philosophical subjects, lively and well composed. 
 One of them is upon Criticism -by no means the
 
 EARLY EXERCISES. 
 
 29 
 
 best, hut now curious from its subject. It explains 
 the importance of the art, and the qualities of the 
 sound critic. 
 
 Between November 1789 and March 1790, there 
 are thirty-one essays, each about the same length 
 with these letters. They are full of vigorous think- 
 ing, and of powerful writing; and a mere statement 
 of these subjects will shew his fertility. They are 
 entitled : — 
 
 1. 
 
 On Human Happiness. 
 
 16. 
 
 Ancient and Modern Learning 
 
 2. 
 
 On a State of Nature. 
 
 17. 
 
 On the Fate of Genius. 
 
 3. 
 
 On Slavery. 
 
 18. 
 
 On Death. 
 
 4. 
 
 On Sincerity and Self-Love. 
 
 19. 
 
 Of a Town Life. 
 
 5. 
 
 On Indolence. 
 
 20. 
 
 Of Human Instinct. 
 
 6. 
 
 On the Praise of former Ages. 
 
 21. 
 
 On Novel Reading. 
 
 7. 
 
 The Superiority of the Sexes. 
 
 22. 
 
 On New Year's Day. 
 
 8. 
 
 Of Man. 
 
 23. 
 
 On Beaux-ism. 
 
 9. 
 
 Of the Love of Fame. 
 
 24. 
 
 On Beauty. 
 
 10. 
 
 Of Fancy. 
 
 25. 
 
 On the Poetic Character. 
 
 11. 
 
 On Jealousy. 
 
 26. 
 
 On Fortitude. 
 
 12. 
 
 Celibacy and Marriage. 
 
 27. 
 
 The Use of Philosophy. 
 
 13. 
 
 Of Love. 
 
 28. 
 
 The Use of Ridicule. 
 
 14. 
 
 Of Man. 
 
 29. 
 
 Of Literary Habits. 
 
 15. 
 
 Of Local Emotion. 
 
 30. 
 
 The Companionable Virtues. 
 
 
 31. Of the for 
 
 egoi 
 
 og Essays. 
 
 This last discourse is as follows : — u As I think 
 this sort of trivial writing serves very little purpose 
 in the line of improvement, I believe I am now writ- 
 ing the last essay of this size and style, that shall ever 
 be reduced to legible characters. Dr. Johnson lias 
 spent papers in measuring the syllables of blank 
 verse, and surely I may employ part of one to justify 
 my own conduct, and satisfy myself of the reasons 
 which induced me to reduce to permanency the
 
 30 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 vague and trifling conceptions of my mind upon the 
 most trite topics of general declamation. It was, I 
 thought, and so far I surely did think justly, a very 
 essential point for a young man to acquire the habit 
 of expressing himself with ease upon subjects which 
 he is unavoidably [illegible] one time or another to 
 talk of. This, to be sure, might perhaps have been 
 attained, in a degree adequate to all common occa- 
 sions, without being at the trouble to write down 
 all that I said, or might have said, on them ; and 
 as the habit of writing and speaking are not quite 
 reciprocal, the plan of accustoming myself to speak 
 a great deal upon them, may perhaps appear better 
 calculated for this purpose. But besides that, I 
 thus avoid many inaccuracies, and as I am in 
 Scotland, many improprieties, I can spare auditors 
 from the fatigue of being the tools and vehicles of 
 my experiment, and save myself from the reputa- 
 tion of talkativeness and folly. But though the 
 habit of speaking easily be a very valuable one, 
 that of thinking correctly is undoubtedly much 
 more so. These, too, cannot be attained by mere 
 mechanical practice, and an earlier exertion of 
 these powers with which every one is endued is 
 absolutely necessary to confirm it. 
 
 •■The human mind, at least mine, which is all i 
 have to dowith, is such a chaotic confused business, 
 such a jumble and hurry of ideas, that it is abso- 
 lutely impossible to follow the train and extent of 
 our ideas upon any "ue topic, without more exertion 
 than the conception of them required. To remedy
 
 EARLY EXERCISES. 31 
 
 this, and to fix the bounds of our knowledge and 
 belief on any subject, there is no way but to write 
 down, deliberately and patiently, the notions which 
 first naturally present themselves on that point; or 
 if we refuse any, taking care it be such as have as- 
 sumed a place in our minds merely from the influ- 
 ence of education or prejudice, and not those which 
 the hand of reason lias planted, and which has been 
 nurtured by the habit of reflection. There is like- 
 wise a subordinate habit, of no little importance, 
 which is more nearly applicable to the uniformity 
 and size of these essays. Though the subjects of 
 which they treat are very various in point of dignity, 
 it is by no means useless that an equal share of 
 time and paper should be allotted to each. The 
 common routine of mental occupation is so much 
 habituated to little and trivial subjects, that it is 
 requisite to treat even more sublime topics in tin- 
 same style and fashion, if we would have them 
 received. As in early ages a moral writer is alleged 
 to convey his instruction in the form of a fable, a 
 parable, or a tale, we have as frequent occasion 
 to take up ... [torn.] 
 
 " By habituating- myself to this sort of manage- 
 ment, I thought I should never want something to 
 say upon trivial subjects — something to the purpose 
 on more important ones. The onlv other object I 
 had in view, was, perhaps not the least important of 
 the whole, to attempt an imitation of the style and 
 manner of the principal persons who have exhibited 
 their abilities in periodical and short essays. 1 >i .
 
 32 LIFE OF LORD .JEFFREY. 
 
 Johnson, Addison, Mackenzie, and Steele, are the 
 only personages I have attempted to ape, and these 
 it would be absurd in me to cope with. I have at 
 least this consolation, that my emulation can be 
 called by no means little. Of these essays I have 
 little more to say. I have in truth said perhaps 
 already more than they deserve. Though for two 
 reasons it was impossible to avoid their escape ; the 
 one, that it was to myself the contained apology is 
 addressed ; the other, that I should otherwise have 
 been at a loss how to have filled a sheet, while on 
 the first lines I declared that such was its limitation, 
 an excuse which will often be necessary for many 
 al (surdities in the preceding leaves of this paequet. 
 Simplicity, and not elegance, is the quality I have 
 chiefly studied. In some, the language, in others 
 the sentiment, was principally attended to. In all, 
 however, originality of both was as much as possi- 
 ble endeavoured to be displayed." 
 
 But the most curious of these youthful composi- 
 tions is a paper of about seventy folio pages, entitled 
 " Sketch of my own character" dated 23d November 
 L790 on the first page, and 12th December 1790 on 
 the last. It is so singular a piece of self analysis 
 tor seventeen, that I have sometimes been inclined 
 to put it into the appendix; but it is better not. 
 Though well written, and lull of striking observa- 
 tions, it is seldom sale to disclose descriptions by a 
 man of himself. Even when perfectly candid, and 
 neither spoiled by the affectation of making himself 
 better nor worse than lie really was. they are apt
 
 EARLY EXERCISES. 
 
 to be misunderstood ; and their publication, espe- 
 cially near his own day, is certain to provoke ridi- 
 cule. 
 
 Many younger men have distinguished them- 
 selves by more surprising displays of early ability. 
 But (as it seems to me) the peculiarity of Jeffrey's 
 case is, that in these efforts he was not practising 
 anything that depended on positive rule, or could 
 be found laid formally down in books, or implied 
 chiefly the possession of a good memory. His 
 science was life and its philosophy ; which he pro- 
 secuted, apparently, in order to acquire that power 
 which enables its possessor to form correct percep- 
 tions of what is true in matters resolving into mere 
 opinion. The merit of these, and subsequent exer- 
 cises, it resolves into judgment and taste, as applied 
 to subjects which admit of no absolute criterion, 
 and on which there is little to be learned, except 
 from the teacher within. His doctrines and deci- 
 sions, when he is serious, and not merely upholding 
 a theme, are generally just; and even when they 
 are wrong, the delicacy of the discrimination, the 
 richness of the views, and the animation of the style, 
 arc indisputable. The wonder is how such ideas 
 got into so young a head, or such sentences into so 
 untaught a pen. 
 
 It was about this time (1790 or 1791) that he 
 had the honour of assisting to carry the biographer 
 of Johnson, in a state of great intoxication, to bed. 
 For this he was rewarded next morning by Mr. 
 Boswell, who had learned who his bearers had been, 
 
 VOL. I. d
 
 54 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 rLipping his head, and telling- him that he was a 
 very promising lad, and that " if you go on as you've 
 begun, you may live to a Bozzy yourself yet." 
 
 He left Edinburgh for Oxford towards the end of 
 September 1791, with his father, his brother, and 
 Mr. Napier, who afterwards married his oldest sis- 
 ter. They loitered and visited so much that they 
 took a fortnight to reach their destination. He had 
 been at Oxford before, but only passing through it ; 
 and after being left there, felt a pang on his first 
 entire loneliness. It may seem to be rather an un- 
 reasonable pang for a youth going to so bright a 
 country as England, and to a place with so many 
 attractions as Oxford. But with whatever cordiality 
 Jeffrey entered into social scenes, it was always on 
 affection that his real happiness was dependent. He 
 ever clung to hearts. As soon as any excitement 
 that kept him up was over, his spirit, though strong, 
 and his disposition, though sprightly, depended on 
 the presence of old familiar friends. He scarcely 
 ever took even a professional journey of a day or 
 two alone without helplessness and discomfort. 
 When left to himself, therefore, for the first time, at 
 a distance from home, it was according to his nature 
 that lie should feel a lowness which gave an un- 
 favourable inclination, from the very first, to his 
 Oxford impressions. 
 
 This place was not then what it is now. Jeffrey 
 went there eager for improvement, by literary 
 energy ; and as he knew it only by the echo of its 
 
 i.', he thought of it as purely a great seat of
 
 OXFORD. 35 
 
 learning and of education, and of all the appro- 
 priate habits. No wonder that, with such ideas, he 
 was shocked on finding sonic tilings in the reality 
 of the plaee different from what he had expected. 
 This was especially the case at Queen's, the College 
 he entered, which was then not distinguished by 
 study and propriety alone. 
 
 However, he neither gave his new comrades, nor 
 his own candour, a very long trial. In a letter to 
 the late Mr. Eobertson of Inches, one of his Glas- 
 gow companions, dated 23d October 1791, being 
 within a week of his arrival, he describes his fellow 
 students as a set of " pedants, coxcombs, and stran- 
 gers" — the last quality, no doubt, being the worst in 
 his sight. On the 19th he wrote to his sister, — 
 " Dear Mary, Shut up alone in my melancholy 
 apartment, — a hundred miles at least distant from 
 all those with whom I have been accustomed to 
 live, — surrounded by chapels and libraries and halls, 
 — with hardly an acquaintance to speak to, and not 
 a friend to confide in, — what do I feel — what shall 
 I write. If my writing must be the expression of 
 my sensation, I must speak only of regret, and 
 write only an account of my melancholy. But 1 
 feel too keenly the pain of such a. sensation to think 
 of communicating a share of it through the sym- 
 pathy of those I love. Fancy yourself in my plaee. 
 — but two days parted from my father and brother, 
 — with the prospect of many irksome and wean- 
 days before 1 shall meet them again — ignorant of 
 the forms and duties of my new situation — diffi-
 
 36 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 dent of my own proficiency — and apprehensive of 
 destroying my own happiness by disappointing the 
 expectations of my friends — fancy yourself thus, 
 and I think you will be able to comprehend my 
 situation. But it is cruel to make you share in it 
 even in fancy. I should have told you I was happy, 
 and made you so, in the belief of my report ; but 
 let us pass from this. It is a noble thing to be 
 independent — to have totally the management and 
 direction of one's person and conduct ; and this is 
 what T enjoy here (did I not always so) ; for except 
 being obliged to attend prayers at seven every 
 morning, and at five every evening — except that, I 
 say, and the necessity of coining to the common 
 hall at three to eat my dinner, and to all the lectures 
 of whatever denomination at some other hours — I 
 have the absolute and uncontrolled disposal of myself 
 in my own hands. I am dependent upon nobody to 
 boil my kettle or mend my fire. Not I. T am 
 alone in my rooms — for you must know I have no 
 less than three — and need not permit a single soul 
 to come into them except when I please. But you 
 wish to know perhaps how long I have enjoyed this 
 monarchy. On Wednesday morning my father, 
 John, and Napier departed for Buxton, and left me 
 bere alone and melancholy in a strange land. The 
 rooms I had chosen could not be ready for me 
 before night, and I sauntered about from street to 
 street, and from college to college. I would not 
 recall the sensations of that morning, were not those 
 of the present hour too similar to Let me forget them.
 
 oxford. :;< 
 
 I felt as if I were exposed to starve upon a desert 
 island ; as if the hour of my death were at hand, 
 and an age of torture ready to follow it. I came to 
 dinner at the common hall — got a little acquainted 
 with one or two of the students, and kept in their 
 company, for I was afraid of solitude till I retired 
 to sleep. Why must I always dream that I am in 
 Edinburgh. The unpacking of my trunk rendered 
 me nearly mad. I cannot yet bear to look into any 
 of my writings. I have not now one glimpse of my 
 accustomed genius nor fancy. O ! my dear, retired, 
 adored little window ; I swear I would forfeit all 
 hopes and pretensions, to be restored once more to it, 
 and to you, could I do it with honour and with the 
 applause of others. But this is almost mad too I 
 think. I came to study law — and I must study 
 Latin, and Greek, and Rhetoric, and Grammar, and 
 Ethics, and Logic, and Chemistry, and Anatomy, 
 and Astronomy — and Law afterwards, if I please — 
 that is, I must attend lectures upon all these sub- 
 jects, if there be any, and pass examinations in them 
 by and bye. By Heaven I am serious, and they 
 will allow neither absurdity nor inconvenience in 
 the practice." 
 
 Six weeks after this he tells his cousin, (and 
 a great favourite, Miss Crockat, afterwards Mrs. 
 Murray) — "This place has no latent charms. A 
 scrutiny of six weeks has not increased my attach- 
 ment. It has, however, worn off my disgust; and 
 knowing that neither the place, nor its inhabitants, 
 nor their manners, can be changed by my displea-
 
 38 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 sure, I have resolved to withdraw that displeasure, 
 which only tortured myself, and to fancy that this 
 is the seat of elegance, and virtue, and science. But 
 I have made a vow not to speak again upon the 
 subject." 
 
 Even the social habits of his new friends were 
 unsatisfactory. " My dear Miss, (his sister Mary, 
 6th March 1792), don't you think it a pity, when 
 the moon shines in all the majesty of silence — when 
 every breeze is sunk to rest — and every star is glow- 
 ing on high — don't you think it a pity to waste 
 such an hour as this — an hour which so seldom 
 shines upon us here — in reading such infernal unin- 
 teresting stuff, as is almost too bad for the cloudiest 
 day in November. I think so upon my soul ; and, 
 therefore, after trying two or three pages, and find- 
 ing I did not understand one syllable, I laid aside 
 Heineccius, half in triumph and half in despair, 
 set the candlestick a-top of him, and took up my 
 pen to converse with you. I wisli it were a speak- 
 ing trumpet for your sake." 
 
 u Ts there anything, do you think, Cara, so melan- 
 choly as a company of young men without any 
 feeling, vivacity, or passion? We must not expect, 
 here, that warmth and tenderness of soul which is 
 to delight and engage us; but let us at least have 
 some life, some Laughter, some impertinence, wit, 
 politeness, pedantry, prejudices — something to sup- 
 ply the place of interest and sensation. But these 
 blank parties! oh! the (juintessence of insipidity. 
 The conversation dying from lip to lip — every
 
 OXFORD. 39 
 
 countenance lengthening and obscuring in the shade 
 of mutual lassitude — the stifled yawn contending 
 with the affected smile upon every cheek — and the 
 languor and stupidity of the party gathering and 
 thickening every instant by the mutual contagion 
 of embarrassment and disgust. For when you enter 
 into a set of this kind, you are robbed of your 
 electricity in an instant, and by a very rapid pro- 
 cess are cooled down to the state of the surrounding 
 bodies. In the name of heaven, what do such beings 
 conceive to be the order and use of society? To 
 them it is no source of enjoyment; and there can- 
 not be a more complete abuse of time, wine, and 
 fruit." "This law is a vile work. I wish I had 
 been bred a piper. For these two months I have 
 conceived nothing distinctly. For all that time I 
 have had a continual vision of I know not what 
 beautiful and sublime things, floating and glittering 
 before my eyes. I at first thought it was a fit of 
 poetry, but upon trial I could find neither words 
 nor images. When I offered to lay hold upon any 
 of its beauties, the splendid show vanished and grew 
 confused, like the picture of the moon you may have 
 tried to scoop up out of the water. I am much 
 pleased with your late letters. Though there is still 
 a remnant of what I found fault with in your style. 
 You must either be merry, or melancholy, or angry, 
 or envious, when you write again. You have not 
 the ease of a style which is merely calm or in- 
 different. 1 avoid it as much as possible." 
 
 • l Except praying and drinking, 1 see nothing
 
 40 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 else that it is possible to acquire in this place." (To 
 Mr. Robertson). 
 
 After only seven months' residence he had a 
 prospect of escaping, and says to his sister (22d April 
 1792), u Our long vacation commences about the 
 end of June, and I suppose my residence at Oxford 
 will finally conclude at that period. But for Scot- 
 land — Scotland ! I have not the same assurance of 
 visiting it at that time. Yet I have never heard 
 anything, even a hint, to the contrary from my 
 father, whose prohibition alone can disappoint me. 
 Ah ! Cara ! you cannot imagine how much I languish 
 to return ; with what visions of happiness my fancy 
 deludes me when I permit it to feign myself prac- 
 tising at the Scotch Bar with plentiful success ! I 
 believe it is the prospect of the expense I must 
 occasion by proceeding on my present line, and the 
 uncertainty of my success, that renders my situation 
 so unpleasing. I have an idea that I am happier 
 than most people 1 see here ; yet I am the only 
 one that thinks of complaining of his situation, or 
 who does not appear perfectly satisfied with him- 
 self." 
 
 At last, in June 1792, his short connexion with 
 Oxford closed, and its end was thus recorded by 
 himself. His admission had been attested by the 
 Following certificate, or whatever else it is called. 
 u Oxoniae, Octobris L7mo, Anno Domini 1791. Quo 
 die comparuit coram me Franciscus Jeffrey, e Coll. 
 Reg. Ann. Fil., et subscripsit Articulis Fidei et 
 Religionis • et jur amentum suscepit de agnoscenda
 
 OXFORD. 41 
 
 suprema regiaa majestatis potestate; el de observandis 
 statutis, privilegeiis, et consuetudinibus liujus uni- 
 versatis. Sam. Dennis, pro Vice Can." Below which 
 the said Franciscus writes, " Hanc universitatem, 
 ttedio miserrime affectus, tandem hilaris reliqui, 
 Ter. Kal. Jul. 1792; meque hisce obligationibus 
 priveligiisque subduxi. F. Jeffrey." And on the 
 other side of the parchment he sets down a list of 
 twenty-seven of his acquaintances and a tutor, with 
 a character, in one line, of each. The tutor is soon 
 disposed of. u Pedant," is all he gets. Such a one 
 is " honest, plain, sensible ;" one " polite, lazy, 
 quick, dissipated ;" one " merry, good-natured, 
 noisy, foolish ;" one " stiff, ignorant, silent, passive, 
 foolish;" and so he goes on through the whole 
 twenty-seven ; never, but in one instance, all com- 
 plimentary. This instance is in the case of Maton, 
 who I understand to have been his future friend, 
 the late Dr. Maton, described "philosopher," as he 
 really was. 
 
 In spite of the prevailing dissipation and idle- 
 ness, he himself was a diligent student in his own 
 way. Sir John Stoddart, who knew him there, says 
 that though " not a reading man, he must have de- 
 voted much time to literature in general ; for his 
 conversation, though always gay and lively, evinced 
 a large store of information." Accordingly, he him- 
 self used to acknowledge, that though, on the whole, 
 disappointed with Oxford, his time there had not 
 I teen lost totally. This indeed is implied in the fact, 
 that during these nine months, he wrote a erreat
 
 42 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 many papers, of which eighteen happen to have 
 been preserved. 
 
 Some of them are short and immaterial, such as 
 a translation of the life of Agricola, and another 
 sermon ; which last seems to be a species of com- 
 position rather seductive to literary laymen. His 
 are about as good as any sermons can be, which are 
 got up as mere rhetorical exercises. Several of them 
 were preached, with considerable effect ; particularly 
 by Mr. Marshall, whose elocution did justice to the 
 author's style, and by a late respectable minister of 
 our Established Church, who had been a tutor at 
 Herbertshire, and imposed some of them on his con- 
 gregation so lately as 1825. 
 
 Among the longer papers, there is one on Beauty ; 
 which is interesting, as the germ of his treatise on 
 that subject, in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, many 
 years afterwards. It is in the form of a dialogue 
 between him and Engeuius, in which the two 
 speakers discuss the nature of the qualities by 
 which objects are recommended to taste. The whole 
 theories of association, of utility, of properties inher- 
 ent in the objects, or of its all resolving into the state 
 of the observer's own mind, &c., are discussed with 
 ability and liveliness. lie inclines to the associa- 
 tion principle, of which the following is his first 
 illustration : — " For what is it, continued I, stopping 
 and stretching out my arm, as I pointed to the land- 
 scape around us, — What else is it, do you think, 
 Eugenius, that enables this retired valley, thai 
 peaceful stream, or these velvet hills, to warm and
 
 OXFORD EXERCISES. J.') 
 
 transport my bosom with the satisfaction in which 
 it now overflows — what is it but the talisman, and 
 the proof it affords of the happiness and security of 
 so many of my brethren as are employed and sup- 
 ported, and many happy, in the cultivation and pro- 
 duce thereof. See ! added I eagerly, and grasped 
 his arm with violence — see that little dim distant 
 light which shines like a setting star on the horizon ; 
 is there anything in the whole circle and series of 
 objects with which we are surrounded on every side 
 that pleases and affects you more than its soft and 
 tranquil light, — than the long line of trembling fire 
 with which it has crossed the lake at the bottom of the 
 cliff under wh ich it burns. And what is it that yields 
 this simple object so high, a power of pleasing, but 
 that secret and mysterious association by which it 
 represents to us the calmness and rustic simplicity 
 of the inhabitants of that cottage ; by which we are 
 transported within its walls, and made to see and to 
 observe the whole economy and occupation of the 
 household." 
 
 A paper on the poetry of Hayley and Miss 
 Seward is an anticipation, both in style and opinion, 
 of one of his future reviews. Another, without a 
 title, but which, in its matter, appears to be on the 
 Philosophy of Happiness, though able, is vague, for 
 which he thus censures himslf: — "I cannot write 
 either with the ease or the rapidity with which some 
 time ago I used to astonish myself. I cannot think 
 it a consequence of this, that I should write prolixly 
 and diffusely. Tin's I meant to fill a slu-cr ; ii is, as
 
 •14 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 visual, very unequal in style, in some passages ridi- 
 culously affected, in others disgustingly careless. 
 The argument is not good, nor the arrangements 
 luminously applied. My meaning is here, however, 
 I believe — scattered and imperfect, to be sure, but I 
 think it is here." 
 
 Another article, without a title, begins thus : — 
 " All that regards man is interesting to me. Every- 
 thing which explains his character and his contra- 
 dictions ; every investigation that promises to illus- 
 trate the phenomena which he unfolds, I pursue 
 and explore with insatiable eagerness and affection." 
 Then follows what appears to be a discourse on the 
 sources and correctives of human wickedness, which, 
 as usual, is not done justice to by the author him- 
 self: — u Opus deductum ; the work is brought to a 
 conclusion, has a full and uniform connection, and 
 is the sincere advocate of my own sentiments. This 
 is all that can be said in its favour. The enumera- 
 tion is defective throughout, the style loose, and, 
 in some passages intolerably diffuse. Besides, the 
 whole performance is more crowded with common- 
 place than a subject on which I was so sincere 
 should have admitted." 
 
 A long " Speech on the slave, on the model of De- 
 mosthenes" is, of course, not the least like Demos- 
 thenes, nor even a speech — it is a declamatory essay. 
 I only mention it for the sake of the description of 
 the style of the model which closes the imitation. 
 "On the model of Demosthenes! admirably exe- 
 cuted! I wonder which of the characteristics of
 
 OXFORD EXERCISES. I') 
 
 tli.it orator I had it in my mind to imitate while I 
 covered these pages. There can hardly be any- 
 thing more unlike the style, though at times it is 
 evident I have been jumping at that too ; and the 
 solicitude with which I have avoided special nar- 
 ratives and individual illustration is still more 
 inconsistent with the instant peculiarity of that 
 model. Now, I knew all this when I [illegible] 
 my intention of imitation. What was it, then, that 
 I designed to imitate? That perspicuity and sim- 
 plicity of arrangement, that direct and unremitting 
 tendency to the single object of the discourse, that 
 naked and undisguised sincerity of sentiment, that 
 perpetual recurrence to acknowledged and important 
 positions, which are, certainly, the most intrinsic 
 and infallible marks of the orations of Demosthenes. 
 No intermission of argument, no digressive embel- 
 lishment, no ostentatious collocation of parts, no 
 artificial introduction, no rhetorical transition, is 
 to be found in the pages of this accomplished and 
 animated orator. He falls from argument to argu- 
 ment with the most direct and unaffected simplicity ; 
 and at every transition from argument to exhortation, 
 and from exhortation to reproach, he holds the one 
 object of his discourse fully in his own eyes, and in 
 those of his auditors. This I say by way of self- 
 defence, that I may not be thought to have mistaken 
 the character of this writer, whom my imitation 
 evinces me to have understood so ill. In one 
 respect it is similar to my model; — it is sincere, and 
 has not declined any part of the argument that
 
 46 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 occurred. Towards the end it is most defective; 
 the turgid breaking* in upon me unawares. I never 
 read ten pages on the question in my life. I pre- 
 tend, therefore, that this is original." (14th April 
 1792.) 
 
 A full and able paper, without a title, contains 
 a spirited argument against the notion of ascribing 
 ('very odd occurrence to Divine interposition. 
 
 These are not the fruits of idleness. 
 
 But there was one accomplishment of which he 
 was particularly ambitious, but failed to attain. He 
 left home with the dialect and the accent of Scotland 
 strong upon his lips ; and, always contemplating 
 the probability of public speaking being his vo- 
 cation, he was bent upon purifying himself of the 
 national inconvenience. u You ask me (says he to 
 Mr. Robertson) to drop you some English ideas. 
 My dear fellow, I am as much, nay more, a Scotch- 
 man than I was while an inhabitant of Scotland. 
 My opinions, ideas, prejudices, and systems arc all 
 Scotch. The only part of a Scotchman I mean to 
 abandon, is the language; and language is all I 
 expect to learn in England." 
 
 He certainly succeeded in the abandonment of 
 his habitual Scotch, lie returned, in this respect, 
 a conspicuous] v altered lad. The. change was so 
 sudden and so complete, that it excited the surprise 
 of Ins friends, and furnished others with ridicule for 
 many years. But lie was by no means so successful 
 in acquiring an English voice. With an ear which, 
 though not alert in musical perception, was delicate
 
 ins scotch. 17 
 
 enough to feel every variation of speech; what he 
 picked up was a high-keyed accent, and a sharp pro- 
 nunciation. Then the extreme rapidity of his utter- 
 ance, and the smartness of some of his notes, gave 
 his delivery an air of affectation, to which some 
 were only reconciled by habit and respect. The 
 result, on the whole, was exactly as described by 
 his friend the late Lord Holland, who said that 
 though Jeffrey u had lost the broad Scotch at Oxford, 
 he had only gained the narrow English." However, the 
 peculiarity wore a good deal off, and his friends 
 came rather to like what remained of it, because it 
 marked his individuality, and it never lessened the 
 partiality with which his countrymen hailed all his 
 public appearances. Still, as the acquisition of a 
 pure English accent by a full-grown Scotchman, 
 which implies the total loss of his Scotch, is for- 
 tunately impossible, it would have been better if he 
 had merely got some of the grosser matter rubbed 
 off his vernacular tongue, and left himself, unen- 
 cumbered both by it and by unattainable English, 
 to his own respectable Scotch, refined by literature 
 and good society, and used plainly and naturally, 
 without shame, and without affected exaggeration. 
 But though the tones and the words of Scotland 
 ceased to be heard in his ordinary speech, they were 
 never obliterated from his memory. He could speak 
 Scotch, when he chose, as correctly as when the 
 Doric of the Lawnmarket of Edinburgh had only 
 been improved by that of Rottenrow of Glasgow ; 
 and had a most familiar acquaintance witli the
 
 48 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 vocabulary of his country. Indeed, there was a con- 
 venience and respectability in the power of speak- 
 ing and of thinking Scotch at that period, which 
 later circumstances have impaired. It was habitual 
 with persons of rank, education, and fashion, with 
 eloquent preachers, dignified judges, and graceful 
 women ; from all of whose lips it flowed without the 
 reality, or the idea, of vulgarity. Our mere speech 
 was doomed to recede, to a certain extent, before 
 the foreign wave, and it was natural for a young 
 man to anticipate what was coining. But our 
 native literature was better fixed ; and Jeffrey knew 
 it, and enjoyed it. He was familiar with the writers 
 in that classic Scotch, of which much is good old 
 English, from Gavin Douglas to Burns. He saw 
 the genius of Scott, and Wilson, and Hogg, and 
 Gait, and others, elicited by the rich mines of latent 
 character and history with which their country 
 abounds, and devoted to the elucidation of the 
 scenes which awakened it; and, of all their ad- 
 mirers, there was not one who rejoiced more, or on 
 better grounds, in the Scotch qualities that consti- 
 tute the originality and the vivid force of their 
 writings. He felt the power of the beautiful lan- 
 guage which they employed, and were inspired by; 
 and, as ninny of his subsequent criticisms attest, 
 was most anxious for the preservation of a literature 
 so peculiar and so picturesque. 
 
 Be left Oxford on the 5th of July 1792, having 
 told Miss Crockat the day before, "To-morrow I 
 take off my gown ; to-morrow I resign the honours
 
 LEAVES OXFORD. 19 
 
 of my academical character, and bear myself for ever 
 from these venerable towers." His absence had di- 
 minished even the small number of his former com- 
 panions ; while his increased age, and greater fitness 
 for society, aggravated the solitude to which he 
 found that he had returned. He used to mention this 
 as the loneliest period of his life. But its loneliness 
 did him no harm. His own family supplied him 
 with objects enough of affection ; and a thought- 
 ful mind like his was not the worse for being con- 
 centrated on its own pursuits. 
 
 He was now nineteen, and his ideas about what 
 he was to do for subsistence or for reputation began 
 to settle into something definite. Some passages in 
 his letters show that he had occasional visions of 
 living by literature, and chiefly by poetry. But 
 these were only the casual longings of taste, not the 
 prevailing views of his practical judgment. He 
 was at one time in a great fright lest he should 
 have been made a merchant. On the 30th of April 
 1790, he wrote a sheet of observations " On a mer- 
 cantile life," not at all favourable to its tendencies 
 on happiness or the mind, and ends by this post- 
 script : " P.S. — The former part of these observa- 
 tions was written while I myself was a little appre- 
 hensive of being made an example of their veracity. 
 They are consequently written with the greatest 
 feeling. From the place where the ink first varies, 
 I wrote merely to give a sort of conclusion to my 
 thoughts; and that I might be more ready, should 
 I ever again have occasion to consider them as a 
 
 VOL. 1. E
 
 50 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 matter of personal concern." But his apprehensions 
 
 do not seem to have ever been revived; probably 
 because his brother John soon joined a paternal 
 uncle, a merchant in Boston, in America, in the 
 business which had apparently excited them.* He 
 would have made a miserable merchant; for he 
 had a horror of risk, and a strong sense of the 
 value of pecuniary prudence. With a liberality of 
 disposition, which was evinced by munificent charity, 
 he had no spirit of adventure, and therefore one 
 shilling' certain had charms for him, which twenty 
 shillings doubtful could not impart. He would have 
 made himself or his partners crazy, by perpetually 
 demonstrating, in the midst of their most solid pro- 
 sperity, that they were all bankrupt, or must speedily 
 become so. 
 
 The law, and in Edinburgh, was plainly his 
 destiny. He thought frequently of the English bar ; 
 but his views in that direction were superseded by 
 the strong considerations that decided his friends. 
 His father could not have afforded the expense of 
 bis preparation for the English bar; and still less of 
 that costly abeyance by which, after being called to 
 it, practice must be waited for. The bar of his own 
 country was cheaper, less precarious, and less irre- 
 coverable from,ifit should fail; and a little practice 
 might be expected from some of his own connec- 
 tions. Above all, to the imagination of a father in 
 the position of Mr. Jeffrey senior, the idea of his 
 
 * His uncle, the brother of Jeffrey's father, had married ;i Bister 
 of John Wilkes.
 
 EDINBURGH COLLEGE. "< 1 
 
 son being a distinguished counsel in the Supreme 
 Court, and possibly occupying at last a seat on its 
 bench, was perhaps the loftiest conception of family 
 grandeur it could form. He was thus set into the 
 stream of the Scotch bar naturally and irresistibly, 
 and his preparations were made accordingly. 
 
 During the winter session of 1792-3, he again 
 attended the Scotch Law lectures of Professor Hume, 
 those of Professor Wyld on the Civil Law, and those 
 of Professor Alexander Tytler on History. He 
 groaned under what he held to be Hume's* elabo- 
 rate dullness. His u notes taken from" Tytler, that 
 is, his transfusion of the lectures into his own 
 thoughts, occupy 436 folio pages of his writing, 
 which would be at least double in ordinary manu- 
 script. There is another course from which it is 
 almost inconceivable that he should have been 
 kept, that of Moral Philosophy by Dugald Stewart. 
 This most eminent person has two reputations, one 
 as an author, and one as a lecturer. Many who 
 know him only as a philosophical writer, venerate 
 him profoundly, both for his philosophy and for 
 the dignified beauty of his style. But this idolatry 
 is not universal. There are some who, admitting 
 his occasional felicity both of thought and of com- 
 position, deem him, on the whole, vague and heavy. 
 But I am not aware that there has ever been any 
 difference of opinion with respect to his unsurpassed 
 excellence as a moral teacher. He was one of the 
 greatest of didactic orators. Macintosh said, truly, 
 that the peculiar glory of Stewart's eloquence con-
 
 52 LIFE OF LORD JEFFEEY. 
 
 sisted in its having " breathed the love of virtue into 
 whole generations of pupils." He was the great 
 inspirer of young men. Yet I can discover no 
 evidence that Jeffrey was a pupil in this, to him, 
 congenial class, and many circumstances satisfy me 
 that he was not. Nor can I doubt why. Stewart, 
 though shrinking from every approach to active 
 faction, was known to hold liberal political opinions ■ 
 and his class door, I believe, was shut to Jeffrey by 
 the same prejudice that had shut John Millar's. 
 
 In a letter to his brother in America, of the 1st 
 of December 1792, he says, " I cannot think of any 
 material alteration that has taken place among your 
 friends since you left them, except it be a most 
 laudable reformation that has been wrought in my 
 person within this last week ; whereby, from a loung- 
 ing, idling, unhopeful kind of fellow, I have become 
 a most persevering and indefatigable student, and 
 have no doubt of turning out President of the Court 
 of Session, or chief macer at the least ; for I have 
 brought back my views in some degree to the Scotch 
 bar, and half determined to leave the English digni- 
 ties to their own disposal." 
 
 The steadiest affection always subsisted between 
 these brothers, although in nothing, except their mu- 
 tual regard, was there any resemblance between them. 
 John continued in America, but not without visits 
 home, till about L807. His commercial concerns 
 did not end very profitably, and some other misfor- 
 tunes, operating upon feeble health, clouded his latter 
 years. With a dry manner, he was a sensible and
 
 SPECULATIVE SOCIETY. 53 
 
 intelligent man, much beloved by the few he cared 
 to cultivate. 
 
 On the 11th of December 1792, Jeffrey entered 
 the Speculative Society. Insignificant as this may 
 seem, it did more for him than any other event in 
 the whole course of his education. Literary and 
 scientific, and especially debating, societies have 
 long existed in connection with the College of Edin- 
 burgh, as they have occasionally in all the other 
 colleges in Scotland ; and so beneficial are these in- 
 stitutions, when properly used, so encouraging both 
 for study and for discussion, and so well-timed in 
 reference to the condition of young minds, that it is 
 not easy to understand how any college can succeed 
 without them. The Speculative had been instituted 
 in 1704, and had raised itself above all similar estab- 
 lishments in this country. Fifty-eight years more 
 have passed since Jeffrey joined it, and it still flour- 
 ishes, and can never expire now, except by the un- 
 worthiness of the youths in whose days it shall sink. 
 Jeffrey scarcely required it for improvement in com- 
 position; but though he had occasionally tried his 
 speaking powers in one or two obscure and casual 
 associations, he had never been a regular working 
 member of a society Like this, on which age and 
 reputation conferred importance, where the awe of 
 order was aided by hereditary respect for not ver\ 
 flexible rules, and superiority was difficult, and every 
 effort to attain it formidable. It was exactly what 
 he required, and he gave himself to it with his 
 whole heart. The period for regular attendance
 
 54 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 was three years ; but his voluntary and very fre- 
 quent visits were continued for six or seven years 
 more. In the course of these nine or ten years, he 
 had a succession, and sometimes a cluster, of power- 
 ful competitors. It is sufficient to mention Sir 
 Walter Scott, with whom he first became acquainted 
 here ; Dr. John Thomson ; John Allen ; David Boyle, 
 now Lord President of the Court of Session ; the 
 Rev. Dr. Brunton ; the Marquis of Lansdowne ; the 
 late Charles, Lord Kinnaird ; Dr. Headlam ; Francis 
 Horner; the late William Adam, Accountant General 
 in the Court of Chancery ; John A. Murray, and 
 James Moncrieff, both afterwards Judges ; Henry 
 Brougham ; Lord Glenelg, and his late brother 
 Robert Grant; James Loch, the Honourable Charles 
 Stuart, and William Scarlett. The political sensitive- 
 ness of the day at one time obtruded itself rather 
 violently into this hall of philosophical orators ; 
 but it soon passed away, and while it lasted, it only 
 animated their debates, and, by connecting them with 
 public principles and parties, gave a practical in- 
 terest to their proceedings. The brightest period in 
 the progress <>!* the society was during the political 
 storm thai crossed it in 1 799. 
 
 Jeffrey read five papers in it, viz. — On Nobility, 
 5th March IT!*.'); on the effects derived to Europe 
 from the discovery of America, 28th January L794; 
 on the authenticity of Ossian's Poems, 10th February 
 L795; on Metrical Earmony, 17th February L795; 
 and on the Character of Commercial Nations, 19th 
 January 1 796. The one on Nobility is a defence of
 
 SPECULATIVE SOCIETY. ;V> 
 
 inequality of rank, and a discussion of the prin- 
 ciples on which it ought to rest, and is greatly above 
 his estimate of it, — "This was written, as the dates 
 testify, in a furious hurry, and delivered in the 
 Speculative within a quarter of an hour after it was 
 fin i shed ; in truth it is not finished. And, so far 
 from having received any correction, it was never 
 honoured by a review. Its doctrines are but faintly 
 impressed on my memory. I believe, however, that 
 1 am sincere in the greatest number of my asser- 
 tions. I am conscious that my theory is in several 
 places highly whimsical ; and very sensible that 
 my information and my research were throughout 
 very inadequate to the conduct of a subject in- 
 tricate in itself, and so deeply sunk in the pro- 
 fundities of history, politics, antiquities, and law. 
 The style, though far from being equal, is greatly 
 too diffuse and pompous throughout. Yet there arc- 
 few faults more excusable to such expositions as 
 this, than that disorderly superfluity of words which 
 usually swells hasty performances. Anxious to ex- 
 press fully that thought upon which he cannot 
 afford to dwell again, the author confounds himself 
 with a number of tautologous expressions; and, not 
 allowing himself sufficient leisure to ascertain the 
 one luminous and steady position, he flutters rapidly 
 round, giving an imperfect view of what a little 
 coolness might have exhibited entire." 
 
 But it was the debates that he chiefly shone in. 
 lie took a zealous part in every discussion. \ doubt 
 if he was ever once silent throughout a whole nicer-
 
 56 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 ing. The Tuesday evenings were the most enthu- 
 siastic and valuable of his week. It is easy to 
 suppose what sort of an evening it was to Jeffrey 
 when he had to struggle in debate with Lansdowne, 
 Brougham, Kinnaird and Horner, who, with other 
 worthy competitors, were all in the society at the 
 same time. It has scarcely ever fallen to my lot to 
 hear three better speeches than three I heard in that 
 place, — one on National Character by Jeffrey, one 
 on the Immortality of the Soul by Horner, and one 
 on the Power of Russia by Brougham. 
 
 It was here that his feeling about the fewness of 
 his friends ceased. His first acquaintance with the 
 persons I have named, and many others of the best 
 friendships of his life, arose in this society. 
 
 No wonder that, forty-three years afterwards, 
 when presiding at a dinner to celebrate the seven- 
 tieth anniversary of the institution, he, in the course 
 of a beautiful address, thus recalled what he owed 
 it. u For his own part, on looking back to that 
 period when he had experience* of this society, he 
 could hardly conceive anything in after life more 
 to be envied, than the recollection of that first burst 
 <>f intellect, when, free from scholastic restraint, and 
 throwing off the; thraldom of a somewhat servile 
 docility, the mind first aspired to reason, and to 
 question nature for itself, and, half wondering at 
 its own temerity, first ventured, without a guide, 
 into the mazes of speculation, or tried its unaided 
 lli'dit into the regions of intellectual adventure, to 
 revel uncontrolled through the brighl and boundless
 
 DEATH OF Mi;. MOREHEAD. Oi 
 
 realms of literature and science. True it was, that 
 all those hopes were not realized; that those proud 
 anticipations were often destined to be humbled ; bu1 
 still, could it be doubted that they were blessings 
 while they lasted, or that they tended to multiply 
 the chances of their being one day realized? He 
 was afraid he was detaining them, but he could not 
 avoid stating what had been so long familiar to his 
 own mind respecting institutions of this kind, 
 which, he considered, under proper guidance, calcu- 
 lated to develop the seeds of generous emulation, to 
 lay the foundation and trace the outlines of that 
 permanent and glorious triumph to be achieved in 
 after life. 
 
 In June 1793, he lost his uncle Mr. Morehead, 
 and saw in that event the ultimate loss of his happy 
 days at Herbertshire. In announcing this calamity 
 to his brother, (29th June 1793) he says, — "On the 
 18th of this month we lost a most excellent man, 
 and an undoubted friend, in our worthy Mr. More- 
 head, who died at Herbertshire on that day, after a 
 short and distressing illness. A man whose amiable 
 and elegant manners were by far his least accom- 
 plishment ; whose unruffled gentleness flowed from 
 the pure benevolence of his heart ; whom envy 
 could not injure, nor malice hate. He was the onh 
 man 1 have ever known, whose character was emi- 
 nent by virtue, without the taint of a single vice: 
 the friend of the friendless, the peacemaker, the 
 
 * See a minute and excellent history of the society, by the 
 ordinary members, published in 1845, p 68
 
 58 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 liberal. There is no event that I at present recol- 
 lect, that has occasioned me more sorrow." 
 
 On the 30th of August 1793, he got one of his 
 first views of the scenes he was to act in, by being 
 present, as a spectator, at the case of Mr. Thomas 
 Muir, advocate, who was that day dealt with at 
 Edinburgh for what was then called sedition. There 
 was a story about the mother of that unfortunate man 
 having dreamed that he would one day be Lord 
 Chancellor. Jeffrey says to Robert Morehead (31st 
 August 1793), "I shall only add, that I staid fourteen 
 hours at the Chancellor's trial, who was this day 
 condemned to banishment for fourteen years." Sir 
 Samuel Homily saw that trial too. Neither of them 
 ever forgot it. Jeffrey never mentioned it without 
 horror. 
 
 " I have been busy (he writes to John, 4th 
 November 1793) ever since my return in preparing 
 for my civil law trials, which will be held in the 
 beginning of our session, and in endeavouring to 
 amass a sufficient stock of patience to carry me 
 through the relentless fogs with which 1 am 
 menaced by the winter. I got a fit of spleen, on my 
 birth-day, I think, by recollecting that I had been 
 crawling between heaven and earth for twenty un- 
 profitable years, without use, distinction, or enjov- 
 inent. 
 
 These trials took place on the 28th of November 
 1 793. In alluding to the approaching ceremony be 
 told his brother* (25th September 1793), "] have 
 lounged ;iwav the weeks which have passed since I
 
 PREPARATION FOR THE BAR. 59 
 
 wrote you last in a state of more complete indolence 
 than I have been able to enjoy for several months : 
 and it is not without some emotion of alarm that I 
 look forward to the drudgery which is preparing 
 
 for me in winter. Yet I cannot say that the inter- 
 val of inaction has been distinguished by any feeling 
 of peculiar satisfaction, or enlivened by any occur- 
 rence which ought to make its remembrance pleas- 
 ing. Yet tranquillity is delightful ; and it is with 
 regret that the mind rouses itself to active exertion, 
 after it has languished for a long time in the pensive 
 bowers of recollection. It is certainly giving a very 
 wretched account of my employment of time ; but 
 I live less for the present than for the past, and 
 rarely look into the future, except for the end of 
 some scheme whose birth my retrospection has been 
 contemplating. I have been, however, yawning over 
 my civil law, in which I take my trials on my re- 
 turn ; and have besides found time to write a variety 
 of sonnets, and to dissuade Robert Morehead from 
 the temptation of a bishopric." 
 
 This dissuasive was a very long letter (25th June 
 1793), advising Morehead not to enter the English 
 Church. One of his reasons was, that if he once got 
 into it, he could never get out. " But there arc per- 
 manent truths and permanent tempers too, after all, 
 no doubt; and if you arc really persuaded that no 
 future day, no- any future occurrence, can alter your 
 sentiments, I have nothing to do but to congratulate 
 von. and sigh for myself, who have lived on this 
 earth very nearly one score of years, and am about
 
 60 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 to pass some professional trials in a few months, who 
 have no fortune but my education, and who would 
 not bind myself to adhere exclusively to the law for 
 the rest of my life for the bribery of all the emolu- 
 ments it has to bestow." 
 
 This " tremendous epistle," as, from its length, he 
 calls it, did not convince the person it was addressed 
 to. Mr. Morehead took orders, and never once 
 desired to leave that church, to which he was sin- 
 cerely attached, and into which he carried all the 
 kind and lowly qualities that grace it. After some 
 slender preferments, he became Rector of Easing- 
 ton in Yorkshire. He published some very pleas- 
 ing sermons ; and though he published very little 
 poetry, its composition was one of his habitual 
 enjoyments. Simple, humble, pious, and bene- 
 volent, — devoted to his official duties, of literary 
 habits, contented with every position in which it 
 pleased Providence to place him, — he could not 
 be but beloved by all who knew his quiet vir- 
 tues. To Jeffrey, who had been his playmate in 
 the fields of Elerbertshire, and throughout life was 
 never estranged from him one moment, and knew 
 his very heart, he was an object of special affection. 
 NO two creatures of the same species could be more 
 unlike; but in mutual regard they were one. 
 
 After committing himself by the rather expen- 
 sive step of his first trials, there are some interesting 
 gleams, in his letters to his brother, of his feelings 
 and anticipations. 
 
 ■ l I shall stiulv mi to the end of niv days. Not
 
 PREPARATIOH FOE THE BAR. <il 
 
 Law, however, I believe, though that is yel in a 
 manner to begin; but something- or other I shall — 
 I am determined. I told you, I think in my last 
 letter, I had just surmounted my first public trials. 
 I think you know that I cannot be brought up on 
 my last till after the interval of twelve months. So 
 that I shall yet have a reasonable period for the 
 preparation of my first speech." — (28th December 
 1 793). " I wish you would let me know what sort of 
 a thing it is to be a merchant, and whether you 
 think I should like it ; for, without any affectation, 
 I have very often deep presages that the law will 
 not hold me. There is such a shoal of us, and I 
 have sen i so much diligence and genius, and in- 
 terest, neglected, that there would be insolence in 
 reckoning upon success. For my own disappoint- 
 ment, I should not grieve above measure, but there 
 are others through whom it may affect me. — (1st 
 February 1794)." 
 
 " I have been so closely occupied in hearing and 
 writing law lectures ever since November, that a 
 short interval of leisure very much distresses me. 
 For the habit I have acquired, of doing nothing but 
 my task, prevents me from laying it out to any ad- 
 vantage, and the shortness of its duration will not 
 allow me to supplant that habit. If this be a speci- 
 men of the life which I am hereafter to lead, though 
 the stupidity which accompanies it may prevent me 
 from feeling much actual uneasiness, yet the remem- 
 brance of other days will always be attended with 
 regret. That sort of resignation of spirit which was
 
 62 LIFE <>F LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 favoured by the depression and the confinement of 
 winter, is beginning to fail on the approach of spring, 
 and, raised by the rustling of the western gales, and 
 the buds, and the sun, and the showers, my spirits 
 have awakened once again, and are execrating the 
 torpor in which they have been lost. This I write 
 to you merely because it is what is uppermost in my 
 mind at present, and because I would have you ac- 
 customed, in due time, not to look for my success as 
 a man of business. Every day I see greater reason 
 for believing that this romantic temper will never 
 depart from me now. Vanity indulged it at the 
 first, but it has obtained the support of habit, and, 
 as I think, of reason." — (2d March 1794). " My 
 notions of philosophy rather lead me to consider a 
 steady contemplation of the worst as the best pre- 
 paration for its possible occurrence. But my temper 
 is too sanguine, and my activity, I believe, too great, 
 to render it possible for such occasional anticipation 
 to induce a habit of dejection or remissness. In the 
 meantime, 1 will tell you truly, again, that my pros- 
 pects of success are not very nattering; though 1 
 cannot help believing that this impression will not 
 greatly abate my efforts to ensure it, though it may 
 Lighten the disappointment which would attach upon 
 my failure. I do not know whether I may have 
 changed, or yon may have forgotten, but I assure 
 you that at present I look upon myself as a person 
 of very singular perseverance, and know very few 
 who will engage in greater labours with expectation 
 less sanguine." [Glasgow, 29th August L794).
 
 ^PREFERENCE OF GLASGOW. 63 
 
 ilt was possessed of a notion, at this time, thai 
 be hated Edinburgh, and liked Glasgow. "After a 
 long abode in the country, I am disgusted with 
 everything that offers itself to me in the town, and 
 cannot comprehend the force of those motives which 
 have led men to bury themselves there. There was 
 something very soothing to my feelings in the tran- 
 quil and easy maimer in which my days succeeded 
 one another at Herbert shire ; and so much peace, 
 and so much innocence, and so much simplicity, I 
 shall not very easily find in Edinburgh. Indeed I 
 hate this place more and more, and in January as 
 well as in June. For I am almost alone in the midst 
 of its swarms, and am disturbed with its filth, and 
 debauchery, and restraint, without having access to 
 much of the virtue or genius it may contain" — 
 (Edinburgh, 1st June 1794). " It is now nearly two 
 months since I have been in Edinburgh, and I do 
 not yet know how long it may be before I return 
 to it. There are few places which have less hold 
 upon my affections, and few in which I feel myself 
 so truly solitary."— (Glasgow, 29th August 1794). 
 
 This short-lived fancy was not unnatural at the 
 moment. He had got into none of the society of 
 either place, but the privation which mortified him 
 in his native city was not felt in Glasgow, where he 
 was a stranger. And there was a u Hebe" at this 
 time in the latter place. 
 
 What he thought the severity, which only meant 
 the dullness, of his legal studies, was relieved by a 
 continuance of literary labour. After leaving Oxford
 
 64 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. # 
 
 he wrote several papers, besides the Speculative 
 Society essays, which, without any exact observance 
 of chronological order, may as well be disposed of 
 now, before bringing him into his professional life. 
 Very few of them remain. 
 
 One is a translation of Tacitus de Moribus, dated 
 October 1792, of which he says — "This is very un- 
 equally translated. There are, however, more pas- 
 sages to be censured than to be praised. Yet the 
 greatest part of them are capable of amendment, 
 and by taking the pitch from the highest, a transla- 
 tion, certainly not inelegant, might easily be laboured 
 out. The most general fault is prolixity. For in- 
 correctness I take rather to be a quality of every- 
 thing written as this has been done, than of any 
 genius whatever. I shall never correct nor copy 
 this, and in time may mistake the blunder of preci- 
 pitation for that of ignorance." 
 
 Two abstracts, one of the Wealth of Nations, and 
 one of the Novum Organum, though short, bring- 
 out the substance of these works with condensed 
 fullness. 
 
 A translation of Demosthenes against Ctesiphon 
 is as good as most such translations. — (Herbertshire, 
 22d July 1794). 
 
 There is a long and very interesting paper en- 
 titled u Politicks ," dated on the top of the first page, 
 "Edinburgh, April 4th, L793," and at the end of 
 the last— "Edinburgh, 29th December 1793." It 
 occupies about 200 folio pages. His criticism on it 
 doses thus :—" There are many tliin<> - s which no man
 
 EARLY WRITINGS. 65 
 
 would be justified, even in my opinion, for speaking 
 to the world; but I am not sensible that there is any- 
 thing here which I ought to have been ashamed of 
 having thought. My conscience has no kind of 
 burden. My errors, I am sure, are those of ignorance, 
 and cannot, by any party, be construed into guilt, 
 as long as I have diffidence enough, or prudence 
 enough, to keep them secret. I wrote this partly 
 with the design mentioned in the beginning, (though 
 I have become a great deal more neutral since April), 
 and partly that I might know what I thought, and 
 upon what reasons my opinions were founded, — cir- 
 cumstances in which, if I do not greatly err, many 
 would require some illumination. The style of this 
 work is not so unequal as that of some of my other 
 compositions, though certainly most tolerable where 
 it has been least attended to. I think just so much 
 of this work, that I wish I had bestowed more at- 
 tention on its composition, and adhered more to 
 plainness and to practicability. Yet it is not all 
 system, and I am sure there is none of it party." 
 
 The statement that " There are many things 
 which no man would be justified, even in my 
 opinion, for speaking to the world," is a striking in- 
 dication of the terror which was then felt of any 
 disclosure of independent opinions. So far as I can 
 judge, there is not one expression or one sentiment 
 in the whole paper which might not have been 
 avowed, though perhaps not with the approbation 
 of every Tory, at any time within the last forty, or 
 even fifty years; yet he was then afraid to utter 
 
 vol. I. F
 
 66 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 them. It is a disquisition on British affairs, foreign 
 and domestic. After a powerful exposition of the 
 principle, that forms of government are of far less 
 importance to the happiness of the people than the 
 good administration of any system to which they 
 have been accustomed, he discusses the duties and 
 the rights of the rulers and of the subjects of this 
 country, under the constitution which has grown 
 round them. His doctrines are those of a philo- 
 sophical Whig ; firm to the popular principles of 
 our government, and consequently firm against any 
 encroachment, whether from the monarchical or 
 the democratical side. He is hostile to the recently 
 proclaimed war with France, and to the policy and 
 objects of the party that had embarked in it. But 
 it is a perfectly fair and temperate examination of 
 matters always open to discussion, and is written 
 with great richness of reflection and illustration, and 
 with great force and animation of style. The views 
 expressed in this essay adhered to him through life. 
 Indeed he says that they will. His beginning is, 
 "History will record the events which signalize the 
 present crisis, and posterity will contemplate with a 
 cool and unprejudiced eve those parties, principles-, 
 mid actions, which now divide mankind so widely. 
 But history will not record, what it may be pleasant 
 hereafter to review, the personal opinions and pre- 
 sent impressions of an observer, who, if he cannot 
 pretend the impartiality of absolute indifference, may 
 yet claim the credentials of candour, sincerity, and 
 moderation, in the principles he has embraced.
 
 EARLY WRITINGS. 67 
 
 Though the frenzy of opposition may often beget a 
 similar violence, in a mind of itself disposed to 
 accommodation, and though several circumstances of 
 impleading recollection have attempted to impose 
 upon my 'judgment by such exasperation, I am 
 pretty confident that the opinion I am now about to 
 deliver will continue to influence my political senti- 
 ments as long as subjects, in themselves so cum- 
 brous and fatiguing, shall retain any decided place 
 in my mind. I am enrolled in no party, and ini- 
 tiated in no club ; habit has added nothing to the 
 confidence of my trust in reason, nor raised any 
 illegal obstacle to the repetition of her triumphs by 
 the demolition of my errors. Neither vanity, nor 
 interest, nor avarice, have hitherto had any effect in 
 warping the political tenets of one who is too mean 
 to catch a glimpse of glory, and too honest to belie 1 
 the assertion of his soul for the sake of riches or 
 promotion. Those seductive principles may one 
 day overthrow that integrity which they have not 
 yet assailed ; and even I may smile with contempt, 
 as I overlook those words, and remember that they 
 were written neither to be seen nor to be obeyed, 
 but merely to perpetuate the memory of that inno- 
 cence which is never despised till it has ceased to 
 exist." 
 
 I am tempted to quote one other passage, neither 
 from its importance nor its originality, but because 
 it evinces a spirit in advance of the age. If there 
 was any principle that was reverenced as indisput- 
 able by almost the whole adherents of the party in
 
 08 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 power sixty, or even fifty, or perhaps even forty 
 years ago, it was, that the ignorance of the people 
 was necessary for their obedience to the law. A con- 
 cession was always made in Scotland, in favour of 
 such teaching as might at least enable the poor to 
 read the Bible ; but even this was a step beyond 
 England ; and in both countries the expediency of 
 a more extended and a higher popular education 
 was considered as a mere Jacobinical pretence. 
 Jeffrey, writing in 1793, says, u The violence of the 
 multitude is indeed to be dreaded, but it will not be 
 violent unless it be uninformed. It is superfluous 
 to add, that a people who are enlightened are likely 
 to be in the same proportion contented; and that the 
 diffusion of knowledge is yet more essential, per- 
 haps, to their tranquillity than it is to their freedom. 
 Those who are in possession of the truth, and of the 
 principles on which it is founded, will not be moved 
 by all the artifice that sophistry can employ, and will 
 laugh to scorn those dangerous impostors who suc- 
 ceed in seducing the ignorant. As a wise man 
 rarely suffers from the errors which delude the vulgar, 
 so thai vulgar, when informed and illuminated, may 
 listen in safety to the charms against which it was 
 not proof before ; as the twig that was agitated with 
 any breeze, may come at length to sustain the force 
 of the tempest without bending." 
 
 But the most curious of all his early pursuits 
 was the poetical one. There is nothing wonderful 
 in any young man being allured into this region; 
 because, of all ambitions, poetry, where its laurels
 
 HIS EARLY POETRY. 60 
 
 appear to be attainable, is the least capable of being 
 resisted; and where the rhythmical form is mis- 
 taken for the poetical substance, it is reduced to an 
 easy, yet attractive, mechanical art. But none of 
 Jeffrey's lines were written, as youthful lines so often 
 are, for immediate display. His being in the habit 
 of making verses seems to have been known only 
 to his brother and sisters, and to Robert Morehead ; 
 and, like his other early exertions, were almost 
 never mentioned afterwards by himself. If he had 
 practised the art as a mere superficial accomplish- 
 ment, he would have cared less for his addiction to 
 it being known. But he plainly had a higher and 
 more distant end in view, and sometimes fancied 
 that the glories of genuine poetry were not certainly 
 beyond his grasp. 
 
 Writing from Oxford to his sister, (25th October 
 1791) he says, u I feel I shall never be a great man 
 unless it be as a poet ;" and U I have almost returned to 
 my water system, for I have scarcely tasted wine 
 this fortnight ; of course I have spent it mostly in 
 solitude, and I think most pleasantly of any since 1 
 came here. This way of life does certainly nourish 
 a visionary and romantic temper of mind, which is 
 quite unfit for this part of the world, and which 
 makes one first be stared at, and then neglected. 
 But my aim is to live happily without regard to 
 these things. Notwithstanding all this, my poet)*y 
 does not improve ; I think it is growing worse every week. 
 Tf I could find in my heart to abandon it 7 J believe I 
 shoidd be the better for it. Pmt I am going to write
 
 70 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 over my tragedy in a fortnight. Though my own 
 compositions please me less, those of higher hands 
 delight me more than ever." — (7th Dec. 1791.) 
 
 He by no means abandoned it. On the contrary, 
 between 1791 and 1796, inclusive, he exercised his 
 faculty of verse very considerably. The largest 
 portion of the result has disappeared. But enough 
 survives to attest his industry, and to enable us to 
 appreciate his powers. There are some loose leaves 
 and fragments of small poems, mostly on the usual 
 subjects of love and scenery, and in the form of 
 odes, sonnets, elegies, &c. ; all serious, none per- 
 sonal or satirical. And besides these slight things, 
 there is a completed poem on Dreaming, in blank 
 verse, about 1800 lines long. The first page is 
 dated Edinburgh, May 4, 1791, the last Edinburgh, 
 25th June 1791 ; from which I presume that we are 
 to hold it to have been all written in these fifty -three 
 days — a fact which accounts for the absence of high 
 poetry, though there be a number of poetical concep- 
 tions and flowing sentences. Then there is a transla- 
 tion into blank verse of the third book of the Argonau- 
 ticon of Appollonius Ehodius. The other books are 
 lost, but he translated the whole poem, extending to 
 about six thousand lines, lie says of this work to 
 Mr. Morehead— (12th Dec. 1795) — " 1 have also 
 written 600 lines, in a translation of the Argos of 
 Appollonius, which I am attempting in the style 
 of Couper's Homer; and it is not much further 
 below him, than my original is under his." And 1 
 may mention here, though it happens to be m prose,
 
 Ills EARLY POETRY. < 1 
 
 that of two plays, one, a tragedy, survives. It has 
 no title, but is complete in all its other parts. Bis 
 estimate of its merits does certainly not savour of 
 conceit. " Edinburgh, 13th February 1794.— The 
 first sheet of this I brought with me from Oxford in 
 July 1792, and I have completed it by writing two 
 or three lines every two or three months since. 
 Upon the whole, it is exceedingly flat, slow, and 
 uninteresting. My aim was to steer free of the 
 pompous and sputtering magnificence of our rude 
 tragedies, and into which I had some tendency to 
 fall. This has been pretty well accomplished ; but 
 I have all the faults of the opposite extreme. 
 Languid, affected, pedantic, the fable has no mean- 
 ing, and the characters nothing characteristic. 
 There is too little action throughout, and the whole 
 piece is but a succession of conversations. Yet the 
 simplicity of diction, as well as of soul, which I 
 have endeavoured to exhibit, prevent these defects 
 from being very disgusting, and make it rather 
 drowsy than abominable.'' He was fond of parody- 
 ing the Odes of Horace, with applications to 
 modern incidents and people, and did it very suc- 
 cessfully. The Otium Divos was long remembered. 
 Notwithstanding this perseverance, and a decided 
 poetical ambition, he was never without misgivings 
 as to his success. I have been informed that he 
 once went so far as to leave a poem with a book- 
 seller, to be published, and fled to the country ; and 
 that, finding some obstacle had occurred, he re- 
 turned, recovered the manuscript, rejoicing that he
 
 72 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 had been saved, and never renewed so perilous an 
 experiment. 
 
 There may be some who would like to see these 
 compositions, or specimens of them, both on their 
 own account, and that the friends of the many poets 
 his criticism has offended might have an opportunity 
 of retaliation, and of shewing, by the critic's own 
 productions, how little, in their opinion, he was 
 worthy to sit in judgment on others. But I cannot 
 indulge them. Since Jeffrey, though fond of play- 
 ing with verses privately, never delivered himself 
 up to the public as the author of any, I cannot think 
 that it would be right in any one else to exhibit 
 him in this capacity. I may acknowledge, how- 
 ever, that, so far as I can judge, the publication of 
 such of his poetical attempts as remain, though it 
 might show his industry and ambition, would not 
 give him the poetical wreath, and of course would 
 not raise his reputation. Not that there are not 
 tons of worse verse published, and bought, and even 
 read, every year, but that their publication would 
 not elevate Jeffrey. His poetry is less poetical than 
 his prose. Viewed as mere literary practice, it is 
 rather respectable. It evinces a general acquaint- 
 ance, and a strong sympathy, with moral emotion, 
 great command of language, correct taste, and a 
 copious possession of the poetical common-places, 
 both of words and of sentiment. But all this may 
 l»e without good poetry. 
 
 One of the poetical qualities — a taste for the 
 beauties and tlie sublimities of nature — he certainly
 
 PORMEB CONDITION OF SCOTLAND. 73 
 
 possessed in an eminent degree. His eye, which 
 had a general activity of observation, was peculiarly 
 attracted by these objects; and this not for the 
 mere exercise of watching striking appearances, but 
 for the enjoyment of the feelings with which they 
 were connected. The contemplation of the glories 
 of the external world was one of his habitual de- 
 lights. All men pretend to enjoy scenery, and most 
 men do enjoy it, though many of them only pas- 
 sively ; but with Jeffrey it was indispensable for 
 happiness, if not for existence. He lived in it. 
 The earth, the waters, and especially the sky, sup- 
 plied him in their aspects with inexhaustible ma- 
 terials of positive luxury, on which he feasted to 
 an extent which those who only knew him superfi- 
 cially could not suspect. Next to the pleasures of 
 duty and the heart, it was the great enjoyment. 
 
 On the 16th of December 1794, he was admitted 
 to practise at the bar. 
 
 No idea can be formed of the prospects which 
 this privilege opened, or of the good which he ulti- 
 mately did, without knowing something of the poli- 
 tical state of Scotland when he thus came into 
 public life. 
 
 Everything was inflamed by the first French 
 Revolution. Even in England all ordinary faction 
 was absorbed by the two parties — of those who 
 thought that that terrible example, by showing the 
 dangers of wrongs too long maintained, was the 
 strongest reason for the timely correction of our own 
 defects,— and of those who considered this opinion
 
 74 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 as a revolutionary device, and held that the atro- 
 cities in France were conclusive against our exciting- 
 sympathetic hopes, by any admission that curable 
 defect existed. It would have been comfortable if 
 these had been merely argumentative views, upon a 
 fair subject of amicable discussion. But they were 
 personal as well as political feelings, and separated 
 people into fierce hostile factions, each of which 
 thought that there was no safety for the state, or 
 for itself, without the destruction of the other. 
 Never, since our own Revolution, was there a period 
 when public life was so exasperated by hatred, or 
 the charities of private life were so soured by poli- 
 tical aversion. 
 
 If this was the condition of England, with its 
 larger population, its free institutions, its diffused 
 wealth, and its old habits of public discussion, a 
 few facts will account for the condition of Scotland. 
 
 There was then in this country no popular 
 representation, no emancipated burghs, no effec- 
 tive rival of the Established Church, no independent 
 press, no free public meetings, and no better trial 
 by jury, even in political cases, (except high treason), 
 than what was consistent with the circumstances 
 that the jurors were not sent into court under any 
 impartial rule, and that, when in court, those who 
 were to try the ease were named by the presiding 
 judge. The Scotch representatives were only forty- 
 five, of whom thirty were elected for counties, and 
 fifteen Cor towns. Both from its price and its nature 
 (being enveloped in feudal and technical absur-
 
 FORMEE CONDITION OF SCOTLAND. <0 
 
 dities . the elective franchise in counties, where alone 
 
 it existed, was far above the reach of the whole 
 lower, and of a great majority of the middle, and of 
 many even of the higher, ranks. There were pro- 
 bably not above 1500 or 2000 county electors in all 
 Scotland; a body not too large to be held, hope 
 included, in Government's hand. The return, there- 
 fore, of a single opposition member was never to be 
 expected. A large estate might have no vote ; and 
 there were hundreds of votes, which, except nomi- 
 nally, implied no true estate. The return of three or 
 four was miraculous, and these startling exceptions 
 were always the result of local accidents. Of the 
 fifteen town members, Edinburgh returned one. 
 The other fourteen were produced by clusters of 
 four or five unconnected burghs electing each one 
 delegate, and these four or five delegates electing 
 the representative. Whatever this system may have 
 been originally, it had grown, in reference to the 
 people, into as complete a mockery as if it had been 
 invented for their degradation. The people had 
 nothing to do with it. It was all managed by town 
 councils, of never more than thirty-three members, 
 and every town council was self-elected, and, con- 
 sequently perpetuated its own interests. The elec- 
 tion of either the town or the county member was 
 a matter of such utter indifference to the people, 
 that they often only kin w of it by the ringing of a 
 bell, or by seeing it mentioned next day in a news- 
 paper; for the farce was generally performed in an 
 apartment from which, if convenient, the public
 
 76 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 could be excluded, and never in the open air. The 
 Secession Church had not then risen into much im- 
 portance. There were few Protestant Dissenters. 
 Even the Episcopalians were scarcely perceptible. 
 Practically, Papists were unknown. During a few 
 crazy weeks there had been two or three wretched 
 newspapers, as vulgar, stupid, and rash, as if they had 
 been set up in order to make the freedom of the press 
 disgusting ; and, with these momentary exceptions, 
 Scotland did not maintain a single opposition news- 
 paper, or magazine, or periodical publication. The 
 nomination of the jury by the presiding judge was 
 controlled by no check whatever, provided his lord- 
 ship avoided minors, the deaf, lunatics, and others 
 absolutely incapable. Peremptory challenge was 
 unknown. Meetings of the adherents of Govern- 
 ment for party purposes, and for such things as 
 victories and charities, were common enough. But, 
 with ample materials for opposition meetings, they 
 were in total disuse. I doubt if there was one held in 
 Edinburgh between the year 1795 and the year 1820. 
 Attendance was understood to be fatal. The very 
 Banks were overawed, and conferred their favours 
 with a very different hand to the adherents of the 
 two parties. Those who remember the year 1810 
 can scarcely have forgotten the political spite that 
 assailed the rise of the Commercial Bank, because 
 it proposed, by knowing no distinction of party in 
 its mercantile dealings, to liberate the public, but 
 especially tlie citizens of Edinburgh. Thus, poli- 
 tically, Scotland was dead. It was not unlike a
 
 THE FIRST VISCOUNT MELVILLE. 3 t 
 
 village at a great man's gate. Without a .single free 
 institution or habit, opposition was rebellion, sub- 
 mission probable success. There were many with 
 whom horror of French principles, to the extent to 
 which it was carried, was a party pretext. But 
 there were also many with whom it was a sincere 
 feeling, and who, in their fright, saw in every 
 Whig a person who was already a republican, and 
 not unwilling to become a regicide. In these cir- 
 cumstances, zeal, upon the right side, was at a 
 high premium, while there was no virtue so hated 
 as moderation. 
 
 If there had been any hope of ministerial 
 change, or even any relief by variety of ministe- 
 rial organs, the completeness of the Scotch sub- 
 jugation might have been less. But the whole 
 country was managed by the indisputed and saga- 
 cious energy of a single native, who knew the cir- 
 cumstances, and the wants, and the proper bait, of 
 every countryman worth being attended to. Henry 
 Dundas, the first Viscount Melville, was the Pharos 
 of Scotland. Who steered upon him was safe; who 
 disregarded his light was wrecked. It was to his 
 nod that every man owed what, he had got, and 
 looked for what he wished. Always at the head of 
 some great department of the public service, and 
 with the indirect command of places in every other 
 department ; and the establishments of Scotland, 
 instead of being pruned, multiplying ; the judges, 
 the sheriffs, the clergy, the professors, the town 
 councillors, the members of parliament, and of every
 
 78 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 public board, including all the officers of the re- 
 venue, and shoals of commissions in the military, 
 the naval, and the Indian service, were all the 
 breath of his nostril. This despotism was greatly 
 strengthened by the personal character and man- 
 ners of the man. Handsome, gentlemanlike, frank, 
 cheerful, and social, he was a favourite with most 
 men, and with all women. Too much a man of 
 the world not to live well with his opponents 
 when they would let him, and, totally incapable of 
 personal harshness or unkindness, it was not un- 
 natural that his official favours should be confined 
 to his own innumerable and insatiable partisans. 
 With such means, so dispensed, no wonder that the 
 monarchy was absolute. But no human omnipotence 
 could be exercised with a smaller amount of just 
 offence. It is not fair to hold him responsible for 
 the insolence of all his followers. The miserable 
 condition of our political institutions and habits 
 made this country a noble field for a patriotic states- 
 man, who had been allowed to improve it. But 
 ili is being then impossible, for neither the govern- 
 ment nor a majority of the people wished for it, 
 there was no way of managing except by patron- 
 age. Its magistrates and representatives, and its 
 other base and paltry materials, had to be kept 
 in order by places, for which they did what they 
 were hidden; and this was really all the govern- 
 ment that the country then admitted of. Whoever 
 bad been the autocrat, his business consisted in lay- 
 ing forty-five Scotch members at the feet of the
 
 FORMEB CONDITION OF SCOTLAND. 79 
 
 government. To be at the bead of such a system 
 
 was a tempting and corrupting position for a weak, 
 a selfish, or a tyrannical, man. But it enabled a 
 man with a head and a temper like Dundas's, to be 
 absolute, without making his subjects fancy that 
 they ought to be offended. Very few men could have 
 administered it without being hated. He was not 
 merely worshipped ; by his many personal friends, 
 and by the numerous idolaters whom the idol fed ; 
 but was respected by the reasonable of his op- 
 ponents; who, though doomed to suffer by his power, 
 liked the individual ; against whom they had nothing 
 to say, except that he was not on their side, and re- 
 served his patronage for his supporters. They knew 
 that, though ruling by a rigid exclusion of all un- 
 friends who were too proud to be purchased, or too 
 honest to be converted, he had no vindictive desire to 
 persecute or to crush. He was the very man for Scot- 
 land at that time, and is a Scotchman of whom his 
 country may be proud. Skilful in parliament, wi st- 
 and liberal in council, and with an almost unrivalled 
 power of administration, the usual reproach of his 
 Scotch management is removed by the two facts, 
 that he did not make the bad elements he had to 
 work with, and that lie did not abuse them ; which 
 last is the greatest praise that his situation admits of. 
 In addition to common political hostility, this 
 state of things produced great personal bitterness. 
 The insolence, or at least the confidence, of secure 
 power on the one side, and the indignation of had 
 usage on the other, put the weaker party, and seemed
 
 80 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 to justify it, under a tacit proscription. It both ex- 
 cluded those of one class from all public trust, 
 which is not uncommon, and obstructed their at- 
 tempts to raise themselves any how. To an extent 
 now scarcely credible, and curious to think of, it 
 closed the doors and the hearts of friends against 
 friends. There was no place where it operated so 
 severely as at the bar. Clients and agents shrink 
 from counsel on whom judges frown. Those who 
 had already established themselves, and had evinced 
 irresistible powers, kept their hold ; but the unesta- 
 blished and the ordinary had little chance. Every- 
 where, but especially at the bar, a youth of a Tory 
 family who was discovered to have imbibed the 
 Whig poison, was considered as a lost son. 
 
 These facts enable us to appreciate the virtuous 
 courage of those who really sought for the truth, 
 and, having found it, as they thought, openly 
 espoused it. But they were not without encou- 
 ragement. Though externally the people were 
 crushed, the spirit, always kindled by injury, was 
 not extinguished. The shires, with only a few 
 individual exceptions, were soulless. But, in all 
 towns, there were some thinking, independent men. 
 Trade and manufactures were rising — the municipal 
 population was increasing — the French Revolution, 
 with its excitement and discussion of principles, 
 was awakening many minds. The great question 
 of burgh reform, demonstrably clear in itself, but 
 l Inn denounced as revolutionary, had begun that 
 deep and just feeling <>i' discontent, which operated
 
 THE SCOTCH WHIG PARTY. 81 
 
 so beneficially on the public spirit of the citizens 
 all over Scotland for the next forty years. The 
 people were silent from prudence. A first convic- 
 tion of simple sedition by a judge-named jury 
 was followed by transportation for fourteen yens. 
 They therefore left their principles to the defence 
 of the leading Whigs; who, without any special 
 commission, had the moral authority that belongs 
 to honesty and fearlessness. These were chiefly 
 lawyers; whose powers and habits connected them 
 with public affairs ; — a bold and united band, 
 without whose steadiness the very idea of indepen- 
 dence would, for the day. have been extinguished 
 in Scotland. 
 
 They had a few, but only a few, external sup- 
 porters ; but these bore powerful names. It was 
 only the strong who durst appear. In spirit, Mr. 
 James Gibson (afterwards Sir James Craig), was in 
 the Society of Writers to the Signet, our second 
 legal body, what Henry Erskine was in the Faculty 
 of Advocates, our first. The Eev. Sir Harry Mon- 
 crieff stood out in the Church; John Allen and 
 John Thomson in the medical profession; Dugald 
 Stewart and John Playfair in the college. It was 
 chiefly, however, by their reputations, and the in- 
 fluence of their known opinions, that these and 
 others promoted the cause; because, Mr. Gibson ex- 
 cepted, they did not engage in the daily schemes 
 and struggles of the party. Several other places 
 had their independent men, who dared to show their 
 heads. But the prevailing impression was fear; 
 
 VOI;. 1. G
 
 82 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 particularly on the part of those whose livelihood 
 depended on the countenance of the upper ranks, 
 and not on their own powers. But this worked for 
 good ultimately. The necessity of suppressing their 
 opinions increased the attachment with which these 
 opinions were secretly clung to, and cherished an 
 intensity of public principle which easier times do 
 not require, and therefore, except in very thinking 
 minds, rarely attain. The fruit appeared in due time. 
 Tn so far as Scotland was concerned, there could 
 be no doubt of the policy of this party, and little 
 ground for despair. The sole object was to bring 
 Scotland within the action of the constitution. For 
 this purpose it was plain that certain definite and 
 glaring peculiarities must be removed, and the 
 people be trained to the orderly exercise of public 
 rights ; and, for the promotion of these ends, all 
 sound principles of liberty, to whatever region ap- 
 plicable, must be explained and upheld. The 
 imperfections of the old Scotch system were too 
 gross to allow any one, who had a due confidence 
 in the force of truth, to doubt their ultimate correc- 
 tion. And thus, instead of any vague generality of 
 reform, the attention of our reformers were concen- 
 trated on certain black spots. Those in power shut 
 their eyes and their cars to all such matters ; and, 
 cheered by a great majority of injudicious friends, 
 did not perceive that below their triumphant sur- 
 face, there was setting in that steady under-current, 
 which, to the increased safety of the community, 
 bas swepl these abominations away. That the flag
 
 THE SCOTCH WHIG PAETY. 83 
 
 was kept Hying - , was owing almost entirely to the 
 spirit of the Whig lawyers. 
 
 The merit of these men can only be measured 
 by the fact, that the state of affairs made a long 
 sway for the Government party, and consequently, 
 a long exclusion of their opponents from all ap- 
 pointments, nearly certain ; so certain, that no 
 barrister could espouse Whiggism without making 
 up his mind to renounce all hope of official promo- 
 tion. If the Whigs had been as steadily in power, 
 it would probably have been the same with the 
 Tories ; but this does not lessen the admiration due 
 to those, no matter on what side, who sacrificed 
 their interests to their principles. It was fortunate 
 for the Whig counsel, especially the juniors, that 
 the advantage of the proscription fell to them. It 
 made them feel that they had nothing but them- 
 selves to rely upon ; while their opponents felt 
 exactly the reverse. The latter were seduced to 
 signalise themselves by party violence, and to rely 
 on its official pay ; — the former, seeing themselves 
 debarred from all that patronage could confer, were 
 compelled to seek those better things over which 
 it has no control. They found these in leisure 
 and study, in elevation of character, and in the 
 habit of self dependence. They have since reaped 
 their distant, and seemingly hopeless, harvest; 
 not so much in their own rise, as in that rise of 
 public opinion which their conduct did so much 
 to produce. But they had a long and severe winter 
 to pass through; and they, almost alone of the
 
 84: LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 liberal, had courage to stand out through its darkest 
 days. 
 
 It is very difficult to resist naming and describ- 
 ing some of these men and their measures. But 
 this cannot be converted from a personal into a 
 general, or even a local history ; and, therefore, 
 those not so intimately connected with Jeffrey as 
 to have affected his life, must be passed over. As 
 to himself, his public opinions, or rather their prin- 
 ciples, were coeval with the growth of his reason. 
 His private writings show that they were not formed 
 without study and reflection, and his purity in 
 adopting them may be inferred from their all being 
 against his immediate interest. Nothing beyond his 
 conviction of their soundness is necessary in order 
 to account for his adoption of them. If accidental 
 circumstances co-operated, they probably consisted 
 in the attraction of free principles to such a mind ; 
 in his abhorrence of the prevailing local persecution, 
 and in the gloomy intolerance of his Tory father, 
 contrasted with the open-hearted liberality of his 
 Whig uncle of Herbertshire. 
 
 The legal profession in Scotland had every 
 recommendation to a person resolved, or compelled, 
 r<> remain in this country. It had not the large 
 fields open to the practitioner in England, nor the 
 practicable seal in the House of Commons, nor the 
 lofty political and judicial eminences, nor the great 
 fortunes. But it was not a less honourable or a less 
 intellectual Line. It is the highest profession that 
 the country knows 5 its emoluments and prizes are
 
 THE OUTEE HOUSE. 85 
 
 not inadequate to the wants and habits of the upper 
 el asses ; it has always been adorned by men of 
 ability and learning, who are honoured by the 
 greatest public confidence. The law itself is not 
 much upheld by the dim mysteries which arc said 
 elsewhere to be necessary in order to save law from 
 vulgar familiarity. With a little deduction on 
 account of the feudality that naturally adheres to 
 real property, it is perhaps the best and the simplest 
 legal system in Europe. It is deeply founded in 
 practical reason, — aided by that conjoined equity 
 which is equity to the world as well as to lawyers. 
 There can be no more striking testimony to its 
 excellence than the fact, that most of the modern 
 improvements in English law, on matters already 
 settled in the law of Scotland, have amounted, in 
 substance, to the unacknowledged introduction of 
 the Scotch system. Its higher practice has always 
 been combined with literature, which, indeed, is 
 the hereditary fashion of the profession. Its culti- 
 vation is encouraged by the best and most accessible 
 library in this country, which belongs to the bar. 
 In joining this body, Jeffrey raised a far slighter 
 obstacle to his favourite pursuits than if he had 
 chosen almost any other line. 
 
 The mere c " Outer House" presented everything 
 calculated to prepare him for any other destination 
 rowards which he might have turned. This Outer 
 House is a large, handsome, historical chamber, in 
 immediate connection with the Courts, — the West- 
 minster Hall of Scotland. It is filled, while the
 
 86 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 courts are sitting, by counsel, and all manner of men 
 of the law, by the public, and by strangers, to whom 
 the chief attraction is the contemplation of the 
 learned crowd moving around them. For about two 
 centuries this place has been the resort and the nur- 
 sery of a greater variety of talent than any other 
 place in the northern portion of our island. It has 
 seen a larger number of distinguished men — it has 
 been the scene of more discussed public principles, 
 and projected public movements — it has cherished 
 more friendships. When Jeffrey sat on its remoter 
 benches, and paced its then uneven floor, so did 
 Scott, and Cranstoun, and Thomas Thomson, and 
 Horner, and Brougham, and Moncrieff, and many 
 others who have since risen into eminence. These 
 young men had before them the figures and the 
 reputations of Blair, and Erskine, and Charles Hope, 
 and Clerk, and other seniors, on whom they then 
 looked with envy and despair. But they had the 
 library, and each other, and every enjoyment that 
 society, and hope, and study, or gay idleness, could 
 confer. In those days, as ever since, the intercourse 
 of the lawyers was very agreeable. They were, and 
 arc, a well-conditioned, joyous, and, when not per- 
 verted by politics, a brotherly community; without 
 the slightesl tinge of professional jealousy; and so 
 true to their principles, whatever they may be, that 
 there have not been above two or three known 
 political renegades among them during the last fifty 
 years. May the young man walking the boards of 
 that hall, in the opening of his legal career, be
 
 scotch LAW COURTS. ST 
 
 inspired by the recollection of the eminent persons 
 who, throughout so many generations, have suc- 
 cessively been in his position, and in his obscurity, 
 and ever keep himself right by remembering what 
 is due to the genius of the place. 
 
 We had no civil juries then, which cut oh' one 
 great field of forensic display. But this was made 
 up for, to a certain extent, by the Supreme Court, 
 consisting of no fewer than fifteen judges, who 
 formed a sort of judicial jury, and were dealt with 
 as such. But the pen was at that time, and for a 
 long while afterwards, a more used instrument than 
 the tongue. It was more inglorious, but it did 
 more work. The great mass of the business was 
 carried on by writing — not merely by written 
 pleadings, but by the whole circumstances and legal 
 merits of every cause being laid before the judges 
 in the form of written or of printed statement and 
 argument. Occasionally, when the learning in a 
 cause is nice and profound, the deliberation and 
 accuracy of written discussion has its advantages. 
 But, intolerably, this form was then applied to 
 everything. And this down till 1825. Justice 
 could often afford to be deaf, but never to be 
 blind. What generations of dumb, but able and 
 learned, drudges the custom bred ! All counsel, 
 even the speaking ones, were often obliged to 
 practise it; but there were whole tribes of silent 
 and laborious men who did nothing else. Many 
 of them produced a quarto volume every day. 
 They actually fed themselves, and married, and
 
 88 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 reared families, and left successions, upon it. This 
 was always the first avenue of the juniors ; whose 
 considerate toil often crammed their ungrateful 
 seniors with the matter out of which the seniors' 
 lips extracted all the applause. Jeffrey's power of 
 writing made this an easy line for him, and many 
 an admirable contribution did he furnish in it. 
 
 His talents and his reputation, which among* 
 young men was very considerable, were his only 
 grounds of hope in his first public scene. These 
 were counteracted by his public opinions, and by 
 an unpopularity of manner which it is somewhat 
 difficult to explain. People did not like his Eng- 
 lish, nor his style of smart sarcastic disputation, nor 
 his loquacity, nor what they supposed to be an air 
 of affectation. These peculiarities gradually faded, 
 and people got accustomed to them ; but they ope- 
 rated against him throughout several of his early 
 years. He himself was aware of this, and felt it. 
 He writes to his brother (27th June 179G) of " the 
 few to whom I am dear ;" and envies John, who had 
 gained so many friends, and seen so much of the 
 world, a while 1 have been languishing within my 
 island limits, scarcely known to anybody, and not 
 much liked by those who do know me" 
 
 It seems to be necessary that there should be a 
 story about the first fee of every lawyer who rises 
 high. Jeffrey's is, that returning home one day 
 with a guinea, he cast it to his grandmother, say- 
 ing, " There is my first fee, Granny •, give it to your 
 old woman at Leith."
 
 ARCHIBALD FLETCHER. 89 
 
 But he was not much troubled with fees then. 
 He always got a few from his father's connections; 
 enough to show what he was; but there he stuck, 
 and it was just as well. 
 
 There were at this time several able men on the 
 bench, and at the bar, of whom it is very tempting 
 to try to give some account. But this would be 
 improper in a narrative which aims at merely ex- 
 plaining Jeffrey ; and, therefore, I mention those 
 persons only who affected his life, and not those, 
 however eminent or singular, with whom he had 
 only a casual or professional connection. I adhere 
 to the principle with regret, because some of these 
 persons merit preservation on account of their emi- 
 nence ; and some, grown in the preceding century, 
 were too picturesque to have their like ever seen 
 again. 
 
 For a long while his professional acquaintance 
 was exceedingly slight, scarcely extending beyond 
 those friends of his youth who had gone to the bar 
 with him. Of the seniors, there seem to have been 
 only two who noticed him ; with both of whom he 
 lived in great friendship till death removed them. 
 
 One of these was the late Mr. Archibald Fletcher, 
 who died at a very advanced age in the year 1828. 
 He was only a few years younger than Jeffrey at 
 the bar, but was much older in life. It is, perhaps, 
 unnecessary for me to say anything of this most 
 excellent man, because his merits have been de- 
 scribed, with his usual discrimination and force, by 
 Lord Brougham, (Speeches 3, 346). A pure and firm
 
 90 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 patriot, neither the excitement of the French Re- 
 volution, nor the long and seemingly hopeless 
 slumber that followed it, nor the danger to which 
 every marked friend of the popular cause was then 
 exposed, had any effect in altering his course of calm 
 resolute benevolence. Throughout all the changes 
 that occurred in his long life, he was the same, 
 ever maintaining right opinions, — never neglecting 
 any opportunity of resisting oppression, in whatever 
 quarter of the globe it might be practised or 
 threatened, ashamed of no romance of public virtue 
 — always ready to lead, but, from modesty, much 
 readier to follow, his Whig party in every conflict 
 of principle, — and all with perfect candour and im- 
 moveable moderation. His more peculiar home 
 subject was the reform of our burghs, a matter, 
 however, that implied many of our other consti- 
 tutional liberations. He was almost the father, and 
 was certainly the most persevering champion, of 
 this cause. But, indeed, his whole life, devoted as 
 it was to the promotion of every scheme calculated to 
 diffuse knowledge and to advance liberty in every 
 region of the world, was applied with especial zeal 
 and steadiness to the elevation of his native country. 
 In all his patriotism he was encouraged by his 
 amiable and high-minded wife; of whom Lord 
 Brougham says, most justly, that, u with the utmost 
 purity of life thai can dignify and enhance female 
 charms, she combined the inflexible principles and 
 dec]) political feeling ofa Hutchinson and a Roland." 
 He was ;i sound lawyer, and in very respectable
 
 llK.MiV ERSKINE. !>1 
 
 practice. It was a great pleasure to Jeffrey to dis- 
 cuss questions of political benevolence with him, 
 even in the extremity of his age; sometimes taking 
 the wrong side in order to excite him, and always 
 delighted with the undecaying spirit of the honest 
 and liberal old man. 
 
 The other was the Honourable Henry Erskine, 
 who had Ions; been the brightest luminary at our 
 bar. His name can no sooner be mentioned than it 
 suggests ideas of wit, with which, in many memories, 
 the recollection of him is chiefly associated. A 
 tall and rather slender figure, a face sparkling with 
 vivacity, a clear sweet voice, and a general suffusion 
 of elegance, gave him a striking and pleasing appear- 
 ance. He was nearly the same in private as in 
 public ; the presence of only a few friends never 
 diminishing his animation, nor that of the largest 
 audience his naturalness. No boisterousness ever 
 vulgarised, no effort ever encumbered, his aerial 
 gaiety. Though imposing no restraint upon him- 
 self, but always yielding freely to the radiant spirit 
 within him, his humour was rendered delightful by 
 its gentleness and safety. Too good-natured for 
 sarcasm, when he was compelled to expose, there 
 was such an obvious absence of all desire to give 
 pain, that the very person against whom his laugh- 
 ing darts were directed generally thought the 
 wounds compensated by the mirth and by the 
 humanity of the cuts. Yet those will form a very 
 erroneous conception of him who shall suppose that 
 the mere display of wit was his principal object.
 
 92 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 In society, of course, his pleasure was to please his 
 friends. But in public he scarcely ever uttered a 
 joke merely for the sake of the laugh. He was far 
 above this seducing vulgarity. His playfulness was 
 always an argumentative instrument. He reasoned 
 in wit ; and, untempted by the bad taste and the 
 weakness of desiring to prolong it for its own sake, 
 it ceased the very instant that the reasoning was 
 served. Nevertheless, notwith standing the fascina- 
 tion it threw around him, he had better have been 
 without the power. It allured him into a sphere 
 below that to which his better faculties would have 
 raised him, and established obstructing associations 
 of cheerfulness, whenever he appeared, in the public 
 mind. For he was intuitively quick in apprehension, 
 and not merely a skilful, but a sound reasoner 5 — 
 most sagacious in judgment ; and his speaking had 
 all the charms that these qualities, united to a copious 
 but impressive language, and to a manner of the 
 most polished and high-born gracefulness, could 
 confer. Hence, though naturally, perhaps, his in- 
 tellect was rather rapid and acute than deep or 
 forcible, he could discharge himself of all his light- 
 ness when necessary, and could lead an audience, 
 in the true tone, and with assured success, through 
 a grave or distressing discussion. 
 
 • In his profession he was the very foremost. 
 There were some, particularly Blair, afterwards the 
 head of the court, who surpassed him in deep and 
 exact legal knowledge. But no rival approached 
 him in the variety ex lent, or brilliancy, of his
 
 BENRY EBSKINE. 93 
 
 general practice. ( tollers were skilled in one depart- 
 ment, or in one court. But wherever there was a 
 litigant, civil, criminal, fiscal, or ecclesiastic, there 
 there was a desire for Harry Erskine; — despair it' he 
 was lost, — confidence if he was secured. And this 
 state of universal requisition had lasted so long, 
 that it could only have proceeded from the public 
 conviction of his general superiority. He had been 
 Lord Advocate during the coalition administration, 
 but not long enough to enlarge his public views ; and 
 when Jeffrey was first honoured by his notice, his 
 brethren had, for eight successive years, chosen him 
 for their Dean, or official head. His political opinions 
 were those of the Whigs; but a conspicuous and in- 
 flexible adherence to their creed was combined with 
 so much personal gentleness, that it scarcely impaired 
 his popularity. Even the old judges, in spite of their 
 abhorrence of his party, smiled upon him; and 
 the eyes of such juries as we then had, in the 
 management of which he was agreeably despotic, 
 brightened as he entered. He was the only one of 
 the marked Edinburgh Whigs who was not received 
 coldly in the private society of their opponents. 
 Nothing was so sour as not to be sweetened by the 
 glance, the voice, the gaiety, the beauty, of Henry 
 Erskine. He and his illustrious brother Lord 
 Erskine, have sometimes been compared. There is 
 every reason for believing that, in genius, Thomas 
 was the superior creature. But no comparison of 
 two men so differently placed is of any value. It is 
 scarcely possible even to conjecture what each might
 
 94 LIFE OF LOED JEFFEEY. 
 
 have been in the other's situation. All that is certain 
 is, that each was admirable in his own sphere. Cast 
 as his lot was, our Erskine shone in it to the utmost ; 
 and it is no deduction from his merits that no per- 
 manent public victories, and little of the greatness 
 that achieves them, are connected with his name. 
 He deserves our reverence for every virtue and 
 every talent that could be reared in his position ; — 
 by private worth and unsullied public honour, — by 
 delightful temper, safe vivacity, and unmatched pro- 
 fessional splendour. 
 
 Yet, on the 12th of January 1796, this man was 
 deprived of his deanship on account of his political 
 principles ; or at least in consequence of his having 
 acted upon them to the extent of presiding at a public 
 meeting to petition against the war. This dismissal 
 was perfectly natural at a time when all intemperance 
 was natural. But it was the Faculty of Advocates 
 alone that suffered. Erskine had long honoured his 
 brethren by his character and reputation, and cer- 
 tainly lie lost nothing by being removed from the 
 official chair. It is to the honour of the society, 
 however, that out of 161 who voted, there were 38 
 who stood true to justice, even in the midst of such 
 a scene. Jeffrey was not one of the thirty-eight. 
 There were three or four young men who agreed with 
 Erskine, and who adhered prominently to the policy 
 of liis party ever afterwards, but who felt constrained 
 not to shock the prejudices of relations, and therefore 
 staid away. Jeffrey was one of these. Herespected 
 the feelings of his father, and of his first patron Lord
 
 PROFESSIONAL PROSPECTS. 95 
 
 Glenlee. lie never repented of the filial deference, 
 but most bitterly did lie ever afterwards lamenl its 
 necessity. He envied the thirty-eight, and always 
 thought less of himself from his not having been 
 one of them. It made the greater impression 
 upon him that this was the first public occasion 
 on which he had had an opportunity of acting on 
 his principles. 
 
 Neither these matters, nor any other distraction, 
 withdrew Jeffrey from his literary exercises. One of 
 the two surviving books of the Argonauticon is dated 
 Edinburgh, 12th December 1705, and the other, Edin- 
 burgh, 4th July 1796. And there is a letter to him, 
 from Dr. Maton, dated Salisbury, loth September 
 1790, from which it appears that lie had a serious de- 
 sire for some immediate publication. The book is not 
 named ; but it may be inferred from the Doctor's words 
 that it was a classical translation. " As matters are, I 
 might as well tell you at once, that these great men, 
 the booksellers, were not more sanguine about the 
 good reception, or, I should rather say, the good 
 incubation and sale, of a work like yours, than they 
 were about mine, when I had an idea of making it 
 merely for the naturalists. Your favourite author 
 seldom falls into the hands of any but professed 
 amateurs of the classics, who are comparatively 
 few at present, and one of the Bibliopoles told me 
 that there was a decent translation already by — I 
 know not by whom. As I was only a week, or a 
 little more, in London, I could not take the charge 
 of a part of your manuscript for their perusal.
 
 00 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 AVhy should you not try the consequence of pub- 
 lishing a part only ? I mean to see how it would 
 sell. Of its obtaining a good name from the critics, 
 
 1 would not for a moment entertain a doubt." No 
 part of it ever appeared however. 
 
 His eldest sister, Mary, was married on the 21st 
 of April 1797, to the late Mr. George Napier, writer 
 to the signet, Edinburgh. 
 
 His condition and feelings about this period, and 
 for a few years later, transpire in some passages of 
 his letters to his brother and Morehead. 
 
 "When I wrote you last I was in the destrac- 
 tion of passing my last public trials, and in the 
 course of a fortnight afterwards, I had accomplished 
 the whole ceremony, and was regularly admitted to 
 the bar. The Christmas vacation put a stop to my 
 splendid career, within a few days after it had 
 begun ; so that I have the course in a manner to 
 renew, and the awkwardness of a first appearance 
 to experience for a second time. The causes in 
 which a young lawyer is engaged, are, as you pro- 
 bably know, for the most part of very little conse- 
 quence ; and the style of pleading at the outer bar* 
 such as may be attained without much knowledge, 
 eloquence, or presence of mind. It is literally a 
 burst • >(' wrangling and contradicting ; in which the 
 loudest speaker has the greatest chance to prevail. 
 I did not feel myself very expert in this trade, but 
 perceive thai I shall be able to acquire les manieres 
 
 One of the Bars in the Outer House, where a single judge sits.
 
 PROFESSIONAL PROSPECTS. 97 
 
 of* it without much difficulty." — (To his brother, 3d 
 
 January 1705.) 
 
 " I have been considering very seriously since I 
 came last here the probability of my success at the 
 bar, and have but little comfort in the prospect; 
 for all the employment which I have, has come 
 entirely through my father, or those with whom I 
 am otherwise connected. I have also been trying 
 to consider of some other occupation in which I 
 might put my time and application to better profit ; 
 but rind the prospect still more perplexing and 
 obscure. I am determined, however, that I will not 
 linger away the years of my youth and activity, in 
 an unprofitable and hopeless hanging on about our 
 courts, as I see not a few doing every day ; for 
 besides tin' waste of that time which can never be 
 replaced, the mind becomes at once humiliated and 
 enfeebled in such a situation, and loses all that 
 energy which alone can lead it to enterprise and 
 success." — (To his brother, 28th November 1795.) 
 
 " All great passions are born in solitude. They 
 are tamed and degraded by the common intercourse 
 of society •, but in public companies, in crowds, and 
 assemblies, they are quite lost and extinguished ; 
 and so by degrees I come back to seriousi less and 
 sense. I wish I could make you as happy as your 
 letter made me. and in the same way — I mean by 
 as prosperous an account of my affairs; but the 
 truth is not so bad as to be concealed. I have been 
 here almost ever since the date of my last, linger- 
 ing away my mornings in the court with less edi- 
 
 VOL. I. II
 
 98 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 fication, less profit, and less patience, I think, than 
 when you were here. My evenings, too, have not 
 made up for the waste of time so well as they did 
 last winter, for though not so dissipated as you, I 
 have been very much out for the last month. How- 
 ever I weary of this idle, turbulent, sort of amuse- 
 ment, and mean to withdraw myself into solitude 
 for another month to balance my accounts. The 
 only kind of work with which I have employed my- 
 self lately is in translating old Greek poetry, and 
 copying the style of all our different poets ; but the 
 weightier matters of the law have been horribly 
 neglected."— (27th January 1796). 
 
 " The last session has passed away with very 
 little increase of profit, reputation, or expectancy; 
 and though almost as favourable as candidates of my 
 standing usually find it, has left me with no longing 
 for the approach of another, and little prospect of 
 better ruminations at the close of it. I wish I could 
 do something which would ensure me some kind of 
 subsistence from my own exertions. But to be in 
 the condition of one who is asking charity, willing 
 and waiting to work, but idle from want of employ- 
 incut, is an evil attending all the professions called 
 liberal, and makes them unfortunately less inde- 
 pendent than any other. The state of politics, too, 
 in this country, and the excessive violence and 
 avowed animosity of the parties in power, which 
 have now extended to every department of life, and 
 come to affect every profession, make the prospect 
 still less encouraging to one who abhors intolerance,
 
 LITERARY PROSPECTS. 99 
 
 and is at no pains to conceal his contempt of its in- 
 solence."— (2d April 1796). 
 
 " I am extremely hurried at present preparing for 
 a criminal trial, in which I have been engaged very 
 much against my inclination. The man for whom 
 I attended last week was found guilty unanimously, 
 and indeed there was no chance for him. As to my 
 new clients, — it is probable I shall have nothing 
 to do but to sit by them, and look wise." — (16th 
 October 1796). 
 
 This man was Roderick Milesius M'Cuillin ; 
 who, on the 13th of October 1797, was convicted 
 of forgery. His case, which, from the commission 
 of the crime down to his death on the scaffold, was, 
 throughout all its stages, accompanied by striking 
 adventures, made a great noise at the time. It is 
 impressed on my memory by the circumstance, that 
 I happened to go into the gallery of the Court, and 
 saw for the first time, Francis Jeffrey and George 
 Joseph Bell, who were counsel for the prisoner, and 
 Lord Braxfield, then the head of the criminal court. 
 I understood nothing about such matters then, but 
 I remember being much surprised at the style of 
 the counsel, and at the vulgar overbearing coarse- 
 ness of the judge. 
 
 " / should like, therefore, to be the rival of Smith 
 and Hume, and there are some moments, {after I have 
 been extravagantly praised, especially by those to whose 
 censure I am more familiar,) when I fancy it possible 
 that I shall one clay arrive at such a distinction. But I 
 could never convince myself that it was any part of*
 
 100 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 rny duty, or at all likely to increase the probability 
 of this lofty distinction, for me to fix my hopes or 
 ray wishes upon it with an undeviating and im- 
 moveable firmness. I do not think we can make 
 occasions always for the display of our abilities, 
 and if we do not unfit ourselves for making use 
 of them when they do come, I think the less we 
 feel at their delay the happier we are at liberty 
 to be."— (To Morehead, 15th January 1798.) 
 
 In another letter to Robert Morehead, of 6th 
 August 1798, he announces an intended ramble 
 through Cumberland and Wales, and laments that 
 they are both getting too hard and sensible. — " What, 
 my dear Bobby, are we turning into? I grow, it 
 appears to myself, dismally stupid and inactive ; 
 I lose all my originalities, and ecstacies, and ro- 
 mances, and am far advanced already upon that 
 dirty highway called the way of the world. I have 
 a kind of unmeaning gaiety that is fatiguing and 
 unsatisfactory even to myself; and in the brilliancy 
 of this sarcastic humour, I can ridicule my former 
 dispositions with admirable success. Yet I regret 
 flic loss of them much more feelingly, and really 
 begin to suspect that the reason and gross common 
 sense by which I now profess to estimate everything 
 is just as much a vanity and delusion as any of the 
 fantasies it judges of. This, at least, I am sure <>f, 
 that these poetic visions bestowed a much purer and 
 more traixjuil happiness than can be found in any 
 of the tumultuous and pedantic triumphs that seem 
 now within my reach, and that I was more amiable,
 
 LITERARY PROSPECTS. 1 ( ) 1 
 
 and quite as respectable before this change took 
 place in my character. I shall never arrive at any 
 eminence either in this new character, and have 
 glimpses and retrospective snatches of my former 
 self, so frequent and so lively, that I shall never be 
 wholly estranged from it, nor more than half the 
 thing I seem to be aiming at. Within these few 
 days I have been more perfectly restored to my 
 poesies and sentimentalities than I had been for 
 many months before. I walk out every day alone, 
 and as I wander by the sunny sea, or over the green 
 and solitary rocks of Arthur's Seat, I feel as if I 
 had escaped from the scenes of impertinence in 
 which I had been compelled to act, and recollect, 
 with some degree of my old enthusiasm, the wild 
 walks and eager conversation we used to take; to- 
 gether at Herbertshire about four years ago. lam 
 still capable, I feel, of going back to these feelings, 
 and would seek my happiness, I think, in their in- 
 dulgence, if my circumstances would let me. As it 
 is, I believe I shall go on sophisticating and per- 
 verting myself till I become absolutely good for 
 nothing." 
 
 He wrote again after the journey had begun, 
 from Wigton, 3d September 1798, saying he meant 
 to take London on some part of his way. " I 
 am going To In' very literary in London, and have 
 thoughts of settling there as ;t grub. "Will you go 
 into partnership with me? I have introductions to 
 review and newspaper editors, and I am almost 
 certain that I could make four times the sum that
 
 102 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 ever I shall do at the bar. Your friends were all 
 well when I heard of them. John is now asleep be- 
 fore nie, and Dr. Brown as near him as possible." — 
 " P.S. — I send you a most exquisite sonnet, with 
 which I was inspired immediately upon my arrival, 
 and which I wish you to circulate among your 
 friends, as a production of the ingenious person 
 whose name it bears. My reason for this is, that he 
 may make his entree into Oxford with some of that 
 eclat which it cannot fail to procure him," &c. &c. 
 
 His grub speculation got little encouragement. 
 On the 20th of the same month he tells Mr. Geo. 
 Bell, " I have derived but little benefit yet from my 
 letters of introduction. Perry,* I can never find at 
 home. Philips f sent me away without reading my 
 letter, and most of the other eminent persons to 
 whom I meant to present myself, are enjoying their 
 dignity in the country." 
 
 So much the better for him. He came home, 
 and was gradually drawn by circumstances into the 
 line of life which was the best for his powers, his 
 usefulness, and his happiness. 
 
 " I have been idle and rather dissipated all this 
 summer. Of late I have had fits of discontent and 
 self-condemnation pretty severely ; but I doubt if 
 this will produce anything for a long time to come. 
 The tiling, however, will certainly draw to a crisis 
 in a year or two. My ambition, and my prudence, 
 and indolence, will have a pitched battle, and 1 
 
 Editor of the Morning Chronicle. ! Bookseller.
 
 ACADEMY OF PHYSICKS. LOS 
 
 shall cither devote myself to contention and toil, or 
 lay myself quietly down in obscurity and medi- 
 ocrity of attainment. I am not sure which of these 
 will promote my happiness the most. I shall regret 
 what 1 have forfeited, be my decision what it may. 
 The unaspiring life, I believe, has the least positive 
 wretchedness. I have often thought of going to 
 India, but I do not know for what station I should 
 be qualified, or could qualify myself, and I have 
 almost as little talent for solicitation as you have." 
 (To Morehead, Gth July 1800.) 
 
 These seeming adversities, and this obvious ambi- 
 tion, always led him back to himself, and to the im- 
 provement of his own mind. He never gave up 
 his studies, or had any real hope of success except 
 fr< >m his deserving it. In none of his letters is there 
 the slightest gleam of expectation from any patron. 
 
 He was fond of all science not depending on 
 mathematics. Medicine in particular had great at- 
 tractions for him, and for a short time he studied it. 
 His friends John Allen, John Thomson, Charles 
 Bell, and Thomas Brown, were all of that profession, 
 and though they did not purposely encourage his 
 propensity, their conversation produced a desultory 
 acquaintance with their science. One way or other, 
 he at least learned enough about it to make him gene- 
 rally a fanciful sufferer and a speculative doctor, when 
 he himself was the patient. Chemistry he liked, 
 and, in its large principles, understood respectably. 
 All his scientific tendencies were excited by his 
 being a member of that singular society of the
 
 104 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 rising young men then in Edinburgh, called " The 
 Academy of Physicks."* u I am become a zealous 
 chemist, and would make experiments if I could 
 afford it, and was not afraid of my eyes. I shall 
 join a society in the winter, that conducts these 
 things in a very respectable style. I am afraid it 
 will swallow up our academy, for which I am sorry. 
 It was the most select and the least burdensome 
 thing of the kind I was ever concerned with. But 
 amiable licentiousness, and want of discipline, has 
 extinguished it, or nearly. — "(To Morehead, 6th 
 July 1800.) This general acquaintance with science 
 was of great use to him in his profession. And 
 though his science, as science, was neither deep nor 
 accurate, it was sufficient to set him, in this respect, 
 above the judges or the juries he might have to con- 
 vince, or any brother he might have to oppose ; nor, 
 except Lord Brougham, was there any practising 
 barrister, even in England, who in this particular 
 was his match. 
 
 ( )n the 2d of March 1800, he tells his brother - I 
 am beginning to grow discontented, and to feel 
 emotions of despondency and ambition, that do no 
 credit to my philosophy. It is impossible not to see 
 that my profession docs not afford me the means of 
 
 * Sec ;i full accounl of it in Welsh's Life of Brown. They 
 acknowledged only three facts which were to be admitted without 
 proof. 1. Mind exists. 2. Matter exists. .">. Every change 
 indicates ;> cause. Ami even these concessions they reserved "the 
 power i>r altering or modifying." Prof. Brown, John Leyden, 
 Lord Webb Seymour, Mr. Reddie, Dr. Birkbeck, Brougham 
 Jeffrey, Horner, were members, and many others of note.
 
 PROFESSIONAL PROSPECTS. L05 
 
 subsistence, and that nine parts in ten of the little 
 employment I have, is derived from those with 
 whom I am personally connected. If these persons 
 were to die, or to quarrel with me, I should scarcely 
 have an apology for attending the courts, and 
 should make less by doing so, than a common 
 labourer. Now this is not only mortifying, but a 
 little alarming too, and prudence as well as pride 
 exhorts me to look to something else. I have tal- 
 ents that my conscience will not let me rank in the 
 lowest order, and I had industry enough too for 
 most things, till the loitering habits of my nominal 
 profession, and the peculiar state of my health, put 
 an end to any regular exertion. I have associated, 
 too, a good deal of late with men of high rank, pros- 
 pects, and pretensions, and feel myself quite upon a 
 Level with them, in everything intrinsic and material. 
 I cannot help looking upon a slow, obscure, and 
 philosophical starvation at the Scotch bar as a des- 
 tiny not to be submitted to. There are some mo- 
 ments when I think I could sell myself to the minis- 
 ter or to the Devil, in order to get above these neces- 
 sities. At other times I think of undertaking pilgrim- 
 ages and seeking adventures, to give a little interest 
 and diversity to the dull life that seems to await me; 
 and when 1 am most reasonable, I meditate upon 
 the chances of my success at the English bar, or in 
 India, to both of which resources I have been ex- 
 horted and recommended by some of my friends. 
 What does your commercial, idle, epicurean head 
 say to all this ?"
 
 106 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 If these fits of depression or impatience, had 
 been serious, and had arisen merely from his not 
 getting business, they would have been very unrea- 
 sonable. He had only been five years at the law, 
 and had got at least something to do, though not 
 much ; whereas, he must have seen that many a bet- 
 ter lawyer had been double that time without know- 
 ing what a fee was, and yet had risen to fortune and 
 renown. But when men write about their own feel- 
 ings to a distant friend, they are apt to get senti- 
 mental, and to describe emotions as habitual which 
 are only suggested by the act of writing. This was 
 the close, too, of the winter session of the court, 
 which, by reminding him how little he had done, 
 naturally disposed him to pensiveness and com- 
 plaint. Accordingly, he says in this very letter, 
 " You must not think that these reflections are 
 habitual with me. They come in fits, though, to 
 say the truth, rather oftener than I could wish. 
 This is the last week of our session.' It was not 
 his professional insignificance alone that troubled 
 him, but its being combined with the consciousness 
 <>f adequate ability, and the rise of very inferior 
 rivals on the right side, who were flaming over his 
 head like rockets. Notwithstanding all this, how- 
 ever, his prevailing state, ;>s at every period <>f his 
 life, when not in actual distress, was that of gaiety. 
 
 Accordingly, although his professional despon- 
 dency lasted several years longer, his feeling of 
 personal loneliness was now entirely removed. 'The 
 Speculative Society, time, the bar, and his being
 
 GEORGE AMi CHARLES BELL. L07 
 
 better known, bad Let him into a wider society, and 
 into several valuable and permanent friendships. 
 In particular, between 1797 and 1800, some con- 
 spicuous young men had come to Edinburgh, to 
 whom, being strangers, the merits of Jeffrey were 
 more apparent than they hitherto had been to 
 many of those among whom he dwelt. Some of 
 these have been already named in mentioning the 
 Speculative Society, and it was to them that he 
 refers in the preceding letter as u men of high rank, 
 prospects, and pretensions ," with whom he had been 
 associating, and to whom he felt himself equal " in 
 everything intrinsic and material." In addition to these 
 were Lord Webb Seymour, Mr. Sidney Smith, and 
 Mr. Hamilton, also strangers. The known admira- 
 tion of these foreigners gave him importance in the 
 sight of those who were disposed to slight him, and 
 enlarged his experience of life. And his ordinary 
 Edinburgh friendships now included Professor Play- 
 fair, Mr. Thomas Thomson, Mr. George Joseph 
 Bell, and his brother Charles, Mr. James Graham, 
 Mr. Brougham, Mr. John Macfarlane, Mr. John A. 
 Murray, Mr. Horner, Mr. James Moncrieff, and Mr. 
 John Richardson. His surviving friends cannot 
 have forgotten his delight in the calm and amiable 
 thoughtfulness of Plavfair, — how he loved the gentle 
 Seymour, — how he reverenced Horner, — how he 
 enjoyed the wise wit of Smith. 
 
 Of all these there was no one, except perhaps 
 his cousin Robert Morehead, to whom he was 
 attached so early as to the two Bells, or to whom he
 
 108 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 adhered through life with a more affectionate tena- 
 city. Both reached great distinction; one in the 
 law, the other in art and physiology. George was 
 long afterwards appointed by the unanimous elec- 
 tion of his brethren to the Professorship of Law in 
 the College of Edinburgh, and by the Crown to one 
 of the principal clerkships in the Supreme Court. 
 But his true distinction consists in his being the 
 author of the Commentaries on the Law of Bank- 
 ruptcy, an institutional work of the very highest 
 excellence, which has guided the judicial delibera- 
 tions of his own country for nearly fifty years, and 
 has had its value acknowledged in the strongest 
 terms by no less jurists than Story and Kent. 
 AYith a stiff and sometimes a hard manner, he was 
 warm-hearted and honourable, a true friend, and 
 excellent in all the relations of life. No one ever 
 knew him well without respect and regard. ( lharles 
 is now known to the world as the author of a beauti- 
 ful work, illustrated by his own exquisite drawings, 
 on the anatomy of painting, and as the discoverer 
 of the true structure and theory of our nervous 
 system, — a discovery which places him at the head 
 of modern physiologists. Gentle and affectionate, 
 he was strongly marked by the happy simplicity 
 thai often accompanies talent ; and was deeply 
 beloved by numerous friends. In affection the 
 brothers were one. George's labour at his book 
 used to excite Jeffrey's envy and self-contempt. 
 " In the meantime, what are you doing? and how 
 do the days run away from you V Do you know,
 
 - GEORGE AM) CHARLES BELL. L09 
 
 since I have seen you engaged in that great work 
 
 of yours, and witnessed the confinement and per- 
 spiration it has occasioned you, I have offcener con- 
 sidered you as an object of envy and reproachful 
 comparison than ever I did before. I am really a 
 good for nothing fellow, I believe, and have no 
 right to expect any better fortune in this world than 
 I am likely to have. I have thought so oftener, I 
 tell you, within these last two or three months than 
 ever I did ; and many a time when I have skipped 
 down your stair with an air of exulting carelessness, 
 I have wished myself hanged for a puppy, and you 
 with me for putting me in mind of it. I have no 
 leisure, however, to be moral at present, but as I do 
 chew upon such reflections very perseveringly, 
 something perhaps will one day come of it." 
 
 They were left early in Life very poor, on the 
 death of their father, a clergyman in the Scotch 
 Episcopal Church. As soon as they were of an age 
 to reflect, they saw that they had nothing to depend 
 upon except their own industry ; and, having 
 selected their departments, they entered upon their 
 cultivation with an energy characteristic of both. 
 There are few things more touching than the high- 
 minded resolution with which these two young 
 nun, cheered by each other, prosecuted the severe 
 studies out of which they at last achieved their re- 
 ward. There is a memorandum by ( ieorge in which, 
 among other things, he mentions a walk that they 
 took to Cults, twenty-two miles west of Edinburgh, 
 where an aunt was living. Each had with him a
 
 110 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 part of what was afterwards converted into his first 
 publication, on which, and on their uncertain pros- 
 pects, they had much anxious talk. " I recollect 
 we stopped to rest ourselves, and drank at a stream 
 on the road side, and amused ourselves with think- 
 ing how pleasant it would be to remember this 
 outset of life, when we were advanced somewhat 
 higher." 
 
 George appears to have been among the first 
 at the bar to discover Jeffrey's superiority; and 
 without the advice, remonstrances, and encourage- 
 ment, of this steady and hard-working friend, it 
 seems very possible that Jeffrey would not have per- 
 severed in his profession. Bell was always rating, 
 and inspiring him with hope. Thus, in answer to an 
 impatient letter from Jeffrey of the 7th of October 
 1796, Bell, among other things, tells him (9th 
 October 1796) — " Upon your own exertion must 
 depend, not your happiness alone — for perhaps you 
 are too much of a philosopher to allow anything 
 external to influence your happiness — but your 
 capacities of indulging in whims, and your ability 
 of assisting others. If so, you will conceive better 
 of your profession than you seem to do." ""With 
 a strong, lively, and elegant imagination, — a culti- 
 vated taste, — a mind well stored with knowledge, — 
 versant in the law at least equ;il to any of your 
 years, — with ready conceptions, and quickness of 
 reply, what in all the world should hinder you from 
 attaining to the head of your profession. Let me 
 hear no more of this murmuring and nonsense." "But,
 
 JAMES GRAHAME. Ill 
 
 in faith, my dear fellow, if you feel really averse to 
 this profession, and unable to bear its drudgerj . 
 you should at once resolve to make a man of your- 
 self, and do honour to your family and your country, 
 by some literary labour." Throughout all that 
 part of the life of every barrister that must be pre- 
 carious, Bell was equally ready with encouraging 
 sense, and never despaired of the final triumph of 
 the friend it was given to. He alludes in another 
 memorandum, without a date, but written some 
 years after this, to M'Cuillin's case, thus : — " On 
 coming to town I was appointed to be counsel for a 
 fine young fellow of an Irishman, charged with for- 
 gery. I made my friend Jeffrey my assistant. He 
 was not then known. Few people but myself knew 
 the extraordinary resources of that man's genius at 
 the time. His manner was bad, and the misjudging 
 world would allow him no merit or talent. The 
 conquest he has made over the prejudices of the 
 world, his own manner, and every man who has 
 come into competition with him, none but talents of 
 the first rank could have accomplished." 
 
 Besides Bell there were other two very early 
 friends, both of the same class, over whose memories 
 it is grateful to linger. 
 
 .lames Grahame, author of The Sabbath, 
 British Georgics, The Birds of Scotland, and 
 other Poems, who died on the 14th September 
 1811, was one of them. Tall, solemn, large featured, 
 and very dark, he was not unlike one of the inde- 
 pendent preachers of the commonwealth. He is
 
 112 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 styled " sepulchral Grahame" by Byron. Neither 
 the bar, at which he practised a few years, nor 
 Whig principles, in the promotion of which he was 
 most ardent (but which with him meant only the 
 general principles of liberty), were the right vo- 
 cation of a pensive nature, whose delight was in 
 religion and poetry. The decline of his health 
 deepening his piety, and increasing his dislike of 
 his profession, he entered the English Church in 
 1808, and obtained a humble curacy, with which, 
 however, he was perfectly contented. With the 
 softest of human hearts, his indignation knew no 
 bounds when it was roused by what he held to be 
 oppression, especially of animals or the poor, both 
 of whom he took under his special protection. He 
 and a beggar seemed always to be old friends. 
 The merit of his verse consists in its expressing the 
 feelings of his own heart. It all breathes a quiet, 
 musing benevolence, mid a sympathy with the 
 happiness of every Living creature. Contention, 
 whether at the bar or in the church, had no charms 
 for one to whom a Scotch tune was a pleasure for a 
 winter evening, and who could pass whole summer 
 days in cultivating the personal acquaintance of 
 birds in their own haunts, and to whom nothing 
 was a luxury that excluded the etherial calm of 
 indolence. Yet his virtue was by no means pas- 
 sive. Ee was roused into a new nature by abhor- 
 rence of cruelty, and could submit to anything in 
 the cause of duty. Professor Wilson published 
 sonic lines on his death, which owe their charm,
 
 JOHN MACFARLAN. 1 L3 
 
 which is great, to their truly expressing the gentle 
 kindness and simple piety of his departed friend. 
 I do not know whether he or Jeffrey delighted most 
 in each other. With Richardson, the three passed 
 many a happy evening in their early years. What 
 did any of them rind better in life than one of their 
 many humble suppers, with Jeffrey's talk, and 
 Grahame's pathetic or Jacobite songs, and Richard- 
 son's flute. 
 
 John Macfarlan, afterwards of Kirkton, was 
 also an advocate ; never in great, but generally in 
 very respectable practice. In piety, calmness, and 
 Whiggism, he was the same with his friend Gra- 
 lianie; from whom he only differed in being more 
 practical, in spite of a taste for German and meta- 
 physics. His life was extended till the 18th of 
 December 184G, when he died at the age of eighty, 
 his last twenty years having been passed in the 
 country. He was one of Jeffrey's steady friends; 
 one of those friends with whom friendship can sub- 
 sist, and warmly, without the aid of constant inter- 
 course. For in their walks they were a good deal 
 different, Macfarlan being serious, studious, and 
 retired. He had his own associates, and shrunk 
 from no publicity where he could do good, but 
 eared little for general society. What Jeffrey, and 
 all who knew him, liked him for, was, his kind- 
 liness of heart, his honesty, his intelligence, his 
 singular simplicity, and his political firmness. It 
 need not he told that he and (Irahanie were two of 
 the thirty-eight. He was one of the tew at leasl 
 
 Vol.. i. l
 
 114 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 they are fewer than they should be) who could 
 combine the deepest personal religion with absolute 
 toleration, and the boldest patronage of the people 
 with the steadiest repression of their extravagance. 
 He never published except in his old age, when he 
 put out a few occasional sheets against prevailing 
 follies, written with almost apostolic shortness and 
 fervour. His words were as plain as Swift's ; his 
 thoughts, within his range, as liberal as Fenelon's. 
 In 1834 I sent one of his little pamphlets against 
 strikes and unions to Jeffrey, who answered, " John 
 Macfarlan's printed letter to the (calico) printers is 
 admirable. I have sent it to the Chancellor and 
 Lord Grey. He is a man to be proud of." — (18th 
 February 1834.) 
 
 In February 1799, Jeffrey wrote "an Analysis, 
 &c, of the general remarks on the customs and 
 manners of the native inhabitants of New South 
 Wales, annexed to the account of that colony, by 
 David Collins, Esq. London, 4to, 1798." The 
 style of this paper shows that it was meant for pub- 
 lication, probably in the Monthly Review, to which 
 he was then an occasional contributor. It seems to 
 he an examination of the first part of Collins' work, 
 of which the second volume was afterwards dis- 
 cussed in the Edinburgh Review (v. ii. p. 30). The 
 analysis is excellent. 
 
 His reading, or part of it, during 1800, is at- 
 tested by a bound volume of 150 very closely 
 written quarto pages, beginning in January and 
 ending in December. It contains short critical 

 
 PROJECTED Tori;. 115 
 
 discussions of forty-eight books which lie had 
 
 been studying, almost all of them on the most im- 
 portant and difficult subjects. He was at the pains 
 to make a regular alphabetical index to the volume ; 
 a thing unexampled with him, and which could 
 only be done from his idea of the value of the 
 notes and speculations it contains. It is full of 
 talent, and with, I suspect, considerable originality. 
 
 During this summer (1800) he also attended a 
 course of chemical lectures by Dr. Hope, of which 
 there remain live volumes of notes. 
 
 On the 7th of June 1800, his youngest sister was 
 married to Dr. Brown, now of Langfyne. This was 
 a union from which he drew much happiness 
 throughout his whole subsequent life. He greatly 
 loved his sister, and was cordially attached to her 
 excellent husband, who was steadily rising to the 
 eminence he afterwards attained as the first physician 
 in Glasgow, and always dignified his practice by 
 the cultivation of other sciences. No alliance could 
 have been happier for all parties. 
 
 During the autumn of this year, he and his 
 friend Sanscrit Hamilton planned an expedition to 
 Germany. "We propose to make a philosophical 
 tour into the southern parts of the empire, observing 
 men, women, and minerals, and journeying with the 
 simple economy of the sages and apostles of old." 
 But it was soon found that even this apostolic pil- 
 grimage would require a hundred guineas, and " I 
 have not twenty in the world." — (To John, 17th 
 June 1800.
 
 116 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Mrs. Brown's removal left his father and him 
 alone. It was impossible that this could last long. 
 Accordingly, before the first two months were out, 
 he was obviously thinking of a home for himself, 
 with a companion of his own choosing. u For 
 my part, I have been doing nothing for this last 
 month with all my might, and with all my soul. 
 Indeed, I have been enjoying my idleness so dili- 
 gently, that I have scarcely had resolution to 
 encounter the fatigues of going from home. I had 
 myself transported indeed by water to St. Andrews, 
 where I bathed, and lounged, and fell in love with 
 great assiduity. The love indeed sticks by me still, 
 and I shall go back, I believe, and let it have its 
 course."— (To John, 3d August 1800.) 
 
 The German tour shrunk into a Highland one, 
 which I suppose exhausted the twenty guineas, and 
 this revived an old scheme. u I have been so long- 
 exhorted by all my friends to write a book, that I 
 have a great notion that I shall attempt something 
 of that kind in the course of the winter. I have 
 not been able to fix upon any subject yet though, 
 and I am afraid a man is not very likely to make a 
 good figure who writes, not because he has some- 
 thing to say, but who casts about for something to 
 say, because he is determined to write. A law book 
 would probably be of the greatest service to me, 
 but I have neither science nor patience enough, I 
 suspect, to acquire it." — (To John, 1st October 1800). 
 
 The book never appeared; and he was again 
 disturbed by the old fancies about England and
 
 FIRST MARRIAGE. 117 
 
 India. " 1 have thought, too, of engaging myself in 
 the study of Oriental literature, and making myself 
 considerable in that way, and of fifty different 
 schemes of literary eminence at home." But he 
 adds, — " Within this while, however, I will confess 
 to you, these ambitious fancies have lost a good deal 
 of their power over my imagination, and I have 
 accustomed myself to the contemplation of a humble 
 and more serene sort of felicity. To tell you all in 
 two words, I have serious thoughts of marriage, 
 which I should be forced to abandon if I were to 
 adopt almost any of the plans I have hinted at. 
 The poor girl, however, has no more fortune than 
 me, and it would be madness nearly to exchange 
 our empty hands under the present aspect of the 
 constellations." — (To John, 3d January 1801). 
 
 The lady whose affections he had thus the 
 happiness to engage was Catherine, one of the 
 daughters of the Eeverend Dr. Wilson, Professor of 
 Church History at St. Andrews, a second cousin of 
 his own. 
 
 In March this year (1801) there was a vacancy 
 in the historical chair in the University of Edin- 
 burgh, by the resignation of Alexander Fraser 
 Tytler, Esq., who had occupied it for several years 
 with credit to himself and to the College. The 
 office was in the gift of the Faculty of Advocates. 
 Si une of Jeffrey's friends advised him to take it, if 
 he could get it; and lie himself was by no means 
 averse. His subsequent career renders it certain, 
 that he would have made it a splendid course. But
 
 118 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 if lie had applied, it does not admit of a doubt that 
 party spirit would have rejected him. And there 
 were other and wiser friends who were against his 
 undertaking anything that tended to withdraw him 
 from his profession. The tortures of uncertainty 
 were not allowed to be long endured, either by 
 intending candidates, or by the electors. The 
 father resigned on the 11th of March, and his son 
 was appointed on the 18th of that month. 
 
 The marriage took place on the 1st November 
 1801. It had all the recommendations of poverty. 
 His father, who was in humble circumstances, 
 assisted them a very little ; but Miss Wilson had no 
 fortune, and Jeffrey had told his brother, only six 
 months before, that " my profession has never yet 
 brought me £100 a-year. Yet have I determined to 
 venture upon this new state. It shews a reliance on 
 Providence scarcely to be equalled in this degene- 
 rate age, and indicates such resolutions of economy 
 as would terrify any less magnanimous adventurer." 
 His brother having asked him to describe his wife ; 
 he did so, as I think, who came to know her well, 
 with great accuracy. " You ask me to describe my 
 ( 'atherine to you-, but I have no talent for descrip- 
 tion, and put but little faith in full drawn characters ; 
 besides, the original is now so much a part of 
 myself, that it would not be decent to enlarge very 
 much, either upon her excellences or her imperfec- 
 tions. It is proper, however, to tell you, in sober 
 earnest, that she is not a showy or remarkable 
 girl, either in person or character. She has good
 
 HIS FIKST HOME. 1 1'.* 
 
 sense, good manners, good temper, and good hands, 
 and above all, I am perfectly sure, that she has a 
 good heart, and that it is mine; without reluctance 
 or division." She soon secured the respeet and 
 esteem of all his friends, and made her house, and 
 its society, very agreeable. 
 
 Their first home was in Buccleuch Place, one of 
 the new parts of the old town; not in either the 
 eighth or the ninth storeys, neither of which ever 
 existed, but in the third storey, of what is now No. 
 18 of the street. His domestic arrangements were 
 set about with that honourable economy which 
 ahvays enabled him to practise great generosity. 
 There is a sheet of paper containing an inventory, 
 in his own writing, of every article of furniture that 
 he went the length of getting, with the prices. His 
 own study was only made comfortable at the cost of 
 £7 : 18s. ; the banqueting hall rose to £13 : 8s., and 
 the drawing-room actually amounted to £22 : 19s. 
 
 During part of next winter (1800 and 1801), he 
 attended the second course of lectures delivered by 
 Dugald Stewart on Political Economy, of which 
 he has left five small volumes of notes. It was 
 there that I first got acquainted with him. I had 
 seen him before in the Court, and had both seen 
 and heard him in the Speculative Society, and 
 must have occasionally spoken to him. But it 
 was at this elass that I began to know him. Our 
 ways home were tin- same, and we always walked 
 together. I remember being struck with his 
 manner, and delighted l>v his vivacity and kind
 
 120 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 ness. From that time we were never for a moment 
 estranged. 
 
 In May 1802 lie took up his second abode in the 
 upper storey of what is now, as it was then, No. 62 
 Queen Street. It brought him nearer his friends, 
 and gave him a beautiful prospect. 
 
 His first professional speech that I remember, 
 was made that month in the General Assembly. It 
 was in a cause which, however important to the 
 parties and the church courts, was in itself paltry. 
 But it made a little noise in its hour, chiefly from 
 Jeffrey's appearance in it. " My professional em- 
 ployment is increasing, too, a little, I think, and I 
 rather believe that my reputation as a man of 
 business stands somewhat higher than it used to do. 
 T have made a speech in the General Assembly 
 about six weeks ago that has done me some good, 
 I believe. The speech seemed to me at the time to 
 be very middling, and certainly cost me no exer- 
 tion whatsoever; but I find it spoken of in many 
 quarters, and have received congratulations from 
 my friends as if it was to make me very advantage- 
 ously known."— (To John, 26th June 1802). 
 
 There were no regular reporters of the decisions 
 of the court at this period, except two advocates, 
 who held the performance of that task as an office, 
 to which they were elected by their brethren. They 
 were paid l>v a small salary, which arose from the 
 sale of the annual volume. It was always con- 
 ferred <>n juniors; and, as by an a bsu I'd deference, 
 of the reporters, and an incomprehensible aversion
 
 LORD GLENLEE. 1 iM 
 
 on the bench, the opinions of the judges were 
 scarcely ever given, it was neither so difficult nor 
 so important a task as it has since become. In 
 summer of 1801 both collectorships were vacant. 
 Jeffrey presented himself to his brethren as a candi- 
 date for one of them, and had the honour of being 
 proposed by Henry Erskine. But upon the 10th of 
 July he was rejected by a large majority. His two 
 opponents were younger than him, and, however 
 excellent and fit for the place, certainly had not his 
 reputation. But qualification had little to do with 
 the matter. It was made a mere party question. 
 
 The election was connected with one painful oc- 
 currence, which distressed him for many years. 
 There was some business relation between his father 
 and Sir William Miller, Bart., who was a judge, and 
 known, from his estate's name, as Lord Glenlee. 
 This had led his Lordship to notice Frank Jeffrey 
 while very young, and, seeing his talents, to have 
 him a good deal about him. But as the youth grew 
 up, and his political principles began to disclose 
 themselves, his Lordship's taste for him did not in- 
 crease, and their intercourse became less frequent. 
 Glenlee had no vote in the election, but it was 
 thought that he might have some influence, and as 
 there was no avowed rupture, Jeffrey asked him to 
 exert it on his behalf. But his Lordship took this 
 occasion to tell him plainly that, in consequence of 
 his politics, he could befriend him no more. They 
 parted, and scarcely exchanged words for nearly 
 thirtv years. Jeffrey was Lord Advocate before In
 
 122 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 was allowed to renew the old acquaintance. He 
 did so then, and with great pleasure ; for throughout 
 this long alienation he had never uttered one word 
 about his early patron but in respect and gratitude. 
 So far as I know, this was the solitary eclipse by 
 which any friendship of Jeffrey's was ever obscured. 
 He regretted it the more from his great admira- 
 tion of Glenlee, who was a very able and a very 
 singular man. 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 en- 
 tirely 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 know- 
 ledge, 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 Playfair, 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. There is not 
 much that could he added to the attainments of a 
 man who was great in mathematics, literature and 
 jurisprudence.
 
 LORD GLENLEE. 123 
 
 His conversation, as described by the two or 
 three friends who were his world, was foil of though.1 
 and curious original views; and it was this that 
 chiefly attracted Jeffrey. A lover of knowledge for 
 its own sake, and with a memory tenacious of the 
 substance of truth, he not only systematically aug- 
 mented his learning, but continued the improvement 
 even of his faculties, when far beyond the period of 
 life at which the mental powers begin, or are gener- 
 ally 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 properties 
 of the Ellipse, which he had just got from Ger- 
 many." His public feelings were miserably narrow. 
 Indeed on political matters his mind never made 
 any progress, except perhaps in being easier under 
 its illiberality, since he withdrew into his learned 
 cell. Too fastidious and too comfortable for publi- 
 cation, he neither gave, nor (so far as it appears) left 
 anything to the world. And thus he has gone 
 without rearing any memorial to himself, except 
 the inadequate one that is furnished by the law re- 
 ports; and even in giving judicial opinions, depth, 
 brevity, and an odd delivery, made his excellences 
 less perceptible than those of far inferior men. 
 
 His appearance was striking, and very expres- 
 sive of his intellect and habits. The figure was 
 slender; the countenance pale, but with a full dark
 
 124 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 eye ; the features regular, unless when disturbed, as 
 his whole frame often was, by little jerks and gesti- 
 culations, as if he was under frequent galvanism ; 
 his air and manner polite. Everything indicated 
 the philosophical and abstracted gentleman. And 
 another thing which added to his peculiarity, was, 
 that he never used an English word when a Scotch 
 one could be got. He died in 1846, in his ninety - 
 first year. 
 
 Whatever this rejection proved to the party from 
 which it proceeded, it was to Jeffrey personally a 
 most fortunate occurrence. It has been supposed 
 that if he had been allowed to waste himself in the 
 obscure labour of reporting, the Edinburgh Review 
 might never have been heard of. There is little 
 probability in this opinion ; but undoubtedly a very 
 slight measure of professional employment would 
 have prevented him from having much connection 
 with it. This exclusion increased his despair of 
 success in the law, and co-operated with his literary 
 ambition in leading him into the scheme and man- 
 agement of that great work, with which his name is 
 now permanently associated, which for the next 
 twenty-seven years became the principal business 
 of his life. 
 
 Mr. Smith's account of the origin of the Edin- 
 burgh Review is this: — u One day we happened to 
 meet in the eighth or ninth storey or flat, in Buc- 
 cleuch Place, the elevated residence of the then Mr. 
 Jeffrey. I proposed that we should set up a Review; 
 this wns acceded to with acclamation. I was up-
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. 125 
 
 pointed editor, and remained long enough in Edin- 
 burgh to edit the first number of the Edinburgh 
 
 to o 
 
 Eeview." — (Preface to Smith's Works.) 
 
 The merit of having first suggested the work is 
 undoubtedly due to Mr. Smith. He himself claims 
 it in the preceding words, and to those acquainted 
 with his character, this is sufficient. But Jeffrey 
 admits it. His " Contributions'''' are dedicated to Mr. 
 Smith, expressly as " The Original Projector of the 
 Edinburgh PieviewT And no other person has ever 
 come forward to dispute the fact. Whatever credit, 
 therefore, attaches to the "first announced idea of the 
 undertaking, it belongs to Mr. Smith. But his state- 
 ment might make it appear that the resolution to 
 begin it was sudden and accidental, and as if it had 
 occurred and been acted upon at once at that casual 
 meeting. But probably all that is meant is, that it 
 was then that the matter was brought to a practical 
 conclusion. Because it is difficult to believe that 
 such an undertaking" could have been determined 
 upon, on the suggestion of a moment, and without 
 previous calculation and arrangement. Accordingly, 
 Jeffrey never ascribed more to this meeting than 
 that it was there that they had their "first serious 
 consultations about it." It happened to be a tempes- 
 tuous evening, and I have heard him say that they 
 had some merriment at the greater storm they were 
 about to raise. There were circumstances that tended 
 so directly towards the production of some such 
 work, that it seems now as if its appearance, in Edin- 
 burgh, and about this time, might almost have been
 
 126 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 foreseen. Of these it is sufficient to mention the 
 irrepressible passion for discussion which succeeded 
 the fall of old systems on the French Revolution; the 
 strong feeling of resentment at our own party intol- 
 erance ; the obviousness that it was only through 
 the press that this intolerance could be abated, or 
 our policy reformed ; the dotage of all the existing 
 journals ; and the presence, in this place, of the able 
 young men who have been mentioned, most of them 
 in close alliance, and to whom concealed authorship 
 was an irresistible vent. 
 
 The most important of these were Jeffrey, Smith, 
 Brougham, and Horner. Very few of them con- 
 templated letters or politics as the businetes of their 
 lives, but they were all eager for distinction, and 
 for the dissemination of what they, in their various 
 walks, thought important truth ; and they were 
 then all masters of their own time.* A review 
 combined all the recommendations that could tempt 
 such persons into print. Of all the forms of address- 
 ing the public, it is the one which presents the 
 strongest allurements to those who long for the 
 honours, without the hazards, of authorship. It 
 invites every variety of intellect; it does not chain 
 its contributors to long courses of labour; it binds 
 no one to do more than lie pleases; it shrouds each 
 
 * Their youth, though ii was one of the established grounds of 
 the pretended oontempl of their opponents, was by no means ex- 
 cessive Allen, in L802, was thirty-two, Smith, thirty-one, Jeffrey, 
 twenty-nine, Brown, twenty-four, Horner, twenty-four, Brougham, 
 twenty-three. Ivxcellent agefl for BUch work.
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. L27 
 
 iii the anonymous mystery; which each is so apt to 
 derive a second gratification by removing; it exalts 
 each into an invisible chair of public censorship, 
 
 and pleases liis self-importance or his love of safety, 
 by showing him, unseen, the effect of his periodical 
 lightning. A publication that subsists by successions 
 of temporary excitement is not always favourable 
 to habits of patient enquiry, or accurate and tem- 
 perate statement. But this is only when it falls 
 into rash or unconscientious hands. Honesty and 
 prudence have often produced as dispassionate and 
 well considered discussions in reviews, as any that 
 could be slowly elaborated by a responsible name 
 in an acknowledged volume. But, at any rate, how 
 strong were the seductions of brilliancy, ridicule, or 
 severity, to a knot of friends, whose pleasure in the 
 exercise of their powers was not likely to be checked 
 either by reflecting on its effects upon themselves, or 
 by too much sympathy with the victims of their 
 critical vigour. 
 
 If the rest who first planned this work had been 
 left to their own inexperience, they would probably 
 have been at a loss how to proceed. But they 
 plainly leant upon Jeffrey, who had not merely 
 been engaged in the study of criticism all his life, 
 but had reduced his study to practice. He had 
 already got several papers published in the existing 
 journals. Some of them, though not specified, are 
 alluded to in his letters, but (so far as I know) only 
 three of them can be authenticated. Two of them 
 are on Winter's Etymologicon Magnum, which were
 
 128 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY, 
 
 published in June and July 1802, in the Monthly 
 Review. He describes these in a letter to his brother 
 (1st August 1802), as " too elaborate, but quite sound in 
 argument ." The third was a discussion of Thalaba, 
 which he sent to that journal before the Edinburgh 
 Review was resolved upon, though by some acci- 
 dent it was not published there till November, which 
 was subsequent to the appearance of his article on 
 Thalaba in the Edinburgh. His having written 
 these papers was known to his friends, who, though 
 he was not at first their formal editor, leant mainly 
 on his experience and wisdom. 
 
 And the field was open to their conquest. There 
 had been no critical journal in Scotland since the 
 days of the original '"''Edinburgh Review" the first 
 number of which was published in January 1755, 
 and the second and last in January 175G.* 
 
 * This first Edinburgh Review contains a slight article by 
 Adam Smith on Johnson's Dictionary, and an excellent letter, 
 ascribed to Smith, on (he inexpediency of confining the Journal to 
 Scotch publications. The conductors, in that innocent age of re- 
 viewing, profess to be guided by principles which must please some 
 of those gentle spirits who used to be shocked by what they doomed 
 the virulence of the new Edinburgh Journal. " They are to judge 
 with candour, but with freedom. Opinions they are only to relate, 
 not to combat." " Iiinimral/ties they iruuld rattier chuse to bury in 
 oblivion." " They expert no praise to themselves, for a. work in which 
 to be useful is their only design," &C. It will gratify the modern 
 reviewer to learn thai their very firsl number contains this speci- 
 men of their tenderness: — " We are almost ashamed to say we 
 have read this pamphlet. Tis such a low scurrilous libel, that even 
 the most necessitous printer or publisher must be at a loss for find- 
 ing a decent excuse for publishing it." 
 

 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE EDINBURGH REVIEW. 129 
 
 There were reviews in England; but, though 
 respectable according to the notions at that time of 
 critical respectability, they merely languished in 
 decent feebleness. Indeed, the circumstance of their 
 almost restricting themselves to the examination of 
 books, exclusively of public measures and principles, 
 narrowed the range of their criticism, and congealed 
 its spirit. 
 
 It was intended to have published the first 
 number in June 1802, but it was put off for some 
 months. During this pause Jeffrey's expectations of 
 its success, if a few passages in his letters can be 
 relied on, were not high. u Our Review has been 
 postponed till September, and I am afraid will not 
 go on with much spirit even then. Perhaps we 
 have omitted the tide that was in our favour. We 
 are bound for a year to the booksellers, and shall 
 drag through that, I suppose, for our own indemni- 
 fication."— (To Mr. Morehead, 24th May 1802). 
 
 " Our review is still at a stand. However, I 
 have completely abandoned the idea of taking any 
 permanent share in it, and shall probably desert 
 after fulfilling my engagements, which only extend 
 to a certain contribution for the first four numbers. 
 I suspect that the work itself will not have a much 
 longer life. I believe we shall come out in October, 
 and have no sort of doubt of making a respectable 
 appearance, though we may not perhaps either 
 obtain popularity, or deserve it." — (To John, 2C>tli 
 dnne 1802.) 
 
 Nobody who knew Jeffrey well, would have 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 expected him to augur favourably of it, because 
 favourable augury was rather rare with him. He 
 calls himself " a Pessimist." It is difficult to under- 
 stand how this could be the habit of so cheerful 
 a temperament, and so sound a judgment. Were 
 it possible to suspect so sincere a person of making 
 preparations against the imputation of foolish con- 
 fidence by systematic professions of fear, it might 
 be suspected that distrust of futurity was a defensive 
 principle of his. But he was far too candid for any 
 such scheme. He really believed that most grand 
 projects fail ; and therefore, having little sympathy 
 with the sanguine, he had a pleasure in refuting 
 their demonstrations, and provoked himself into 
 doubt by the exercise of assailing their infalli- 
 bilities. But whatever the explanation may be, the 
 fact is, that, in his calculations of human contin- 
 gencies, he was generally in a state of lively argu- 
 mentative despair. There was no cloud over the 
 spirits. It was merely a taste that he had for 
 extracting grounds, out of existing circumstances, 
 for predicting failure rather than success: — u For 
 my own part, I am much inclined to despair still, 
 though 1 cannot help confessing that 1 am as gay 
 and foolish through the twenty-four hours as I used 
 to In-."— (To Borner, 23d July 1808). "] Loot 
 enough at the bright side of things ; — I mean habit- 
 ually, and referably to my own little concerns; — so 
 much so that it is really an effort for me to look at 
 anything else. But it is an effort which I start 
 every now and then to think how I can decline so
 
 PUBLICATION OF THE REVIEW. 13] 
 
 completely and theoretically. I am very much in a 
 state of despair, while I have scarcely any actual 
 anxiety."— (To Malthus, 1st April 1811). 
 
 At last, on the 10th of October 1802, the first 
 number of the Edinburgh Review appeared. Be- 
 sides several other articles, it contained seven by 
 Smith, four by Horner, four commonly ascribed to 
 Lord Brougham, and five by Jeffrey, one of which, 
 upon Mourier on the influence of the French Revo- 
 lution, began the work. 
 
 The effect was electrical. And instead of ex- 
 piring, as many wished, in their first effort, the 
 force of the shock was increased on each subsequent 
 discharge. It is impossible for those who did not 
 live at the time, and in the heart of the scene, to 
 feel, or almost to understand, the impression made 
 by the new luminary, or the anxieties with which 
 its motions were observed. It was an entire and 
 instant change of every thing that the public had 
 been accustomed to in that sort of composition. 
 The old periodical opiates were extinguished at 
 once. The learning of the new Journal, its talent, 
 its spirit, its writing, its independence, were all 
 new ; and the surprise was increased by a work so 
 full of public life springing up, suddenly, in a re- 
 mote part of the kingdom. Different classes soon 
 settled into their different views of it. Its literature, 
 its political economy, and its pure science, were 
 generally admired. Many thoughtful men, indiffe- 
 rent to party, but anxious for the progress of tin- 
 human mind, and alarmed lest war and political
 
 132 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 confusion should restore a new course of dark ages, 
 were cheered by the unexpected appearance of what 
 seemed likely to prove a great depository for the 
 contributions of able men to the cause of philosophy. 
 Its political opinions made it be received by one 
 party with demonstrations of its iniquity, with con- 
 fident prophecies of the impossibility of so scanda- 
 lous a publication lasting, much pretended derision, 
 anil boundless abuse of its audacious authors. On 
 the opposite side, it was hailed as the dawn of a 
 brighter day. It was not merely the intelligent 
 championship of their principles that those on that 
 side saw apparently secured, but the far higher end, 
 that reason would be heard. The splendid career 
 of the Journal, as it was actually run, was not anti- 
 cipated, either by its authors or by its most ardent 
 admirers ; none of whom could forseee its long en- 
 durance, or the extent to which the mighty improve- 
 ments that have reformed our opinions and institu- 
 tions, and enabled us to engraft the wisdom of 
 experience on the maintainable antiquities of our 
 system, were to depend on this single publication. 
 They only saw the present establishment of an organ 
 of the highest order, for the able and fearless dis- 
 cussion of every matter worthy of being inquired 
 into; but they could not then discern its conse- 
 quences. 
 
 Nowhere was its pillar of fire watched with 
 greater intensity than in Scotland, where the con- 
 stitutional wilderness was the darkest, Many years 
 had to pass before it could effect actual reform; 

 
 PUBLICATION OF THE REVIEW. L33 
 
 but it became clearer every day that a generation 
 was forming by which the seed sowing* by this 
 work must at last be reaped. To Edinburgh in 
 particular it was of especial benefit. It extended 
 the literary reputation of the place, and connected 
 it with public affairs, and made its opinions impor- 
 tant. All were the better of a journal to which 
 every one with an object of due importance had 
 access, which it was in vain either to bully or to 
 despise, and of the fame of which even its reasonable 
 haters were inwardly proud. 
 
 It was distinguished in its outset from similar 
 publications, by its being kept quite independent of 
 booksellers, and by the high prices soon paid for 
 articles. The first kept its managers free; the 
 second e'ave them the command of nearly all the 
 talent in the market. Yet for the first two or three 
 numbers they had an idea that such a work could 
 be carried on without remunerating the writers at 
 all. It was to be all gentlemen, and no pay. And 
 it was during this state of matters that Jeffrey 
 doubted its success, and meant to have a very short 
 connection with it. But this blunder was soon cor- 
 rected by a magnificent recurrence to the rule of 
 common sense. Mr. Constable, who was their pub- 
 lisher, though unfortunate in the end, was the most 
 spirited bookseller that had ever appeared in Scot- 
 land. Yet even he seems at one time to have been 
 doubtful of the permanent success of the work, for 
 Mi-. Smith gave him the following advice, in a 
 letter which is not dated, but must have been
 
 134 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 written within the first year of the Review's exis- 
 tence : — "Sir, You ask me for my opinion about 
 the continuation of the E. Review. I have the 
 greatest confidence in giving it you, as I find 
 every body here (who is capable of forming an 
 opinion upon the subject) unanimous in the idea of 
 its success, and in the hope of its continuation. It 
 is notorious that all the reviews are the organs 
 either of party or of booksellers. I have no manner 
 of doubt that an able, intrepid, and independent review 
 would be as useful to the public as it would be pro- 
 fitable to those who are engaged in it. If you will 
 give £200 per annum to your editor, and ten 
 guineas a sheet, you will soon have the best review 
 in Europe. This town, I am convinced, is prefer- 
 able to all others for such an undertaking, from the 
 abundance of literary men it contains, and from the 
 freedom which at this distance they can exercise 
 towards the wits of the south. The gentlemen 
 who first engaged in this review will find it too labo- 
 rious for pleasure 5 as labour, I am sure they will not 
 meddle with it for a less valuable offer. — I remain, 
 Sir, your obedt. humble sert." &c. 
 
 ," P.S. — -I do not, by the expressions I have used 
 above, mean to throw any censure on the trade for un- 
 dertaking reviews. Every one for himself; God for 
 all. It is fair enough that a bookseller should guide 
 the public to his own shop. And fair enough that a 
 critic should tell the public they are going astray." 
 The sagacious Horner recorded his opinion at 
 the time of the eivdit which this publication would 

 
 PUBLICATION OF THE REVIEW. L35 
 
 do Jeffrey, by the following' entry in his private 
 journal: — "Jeffrey is the person who will derive 
 most honour from this publication, as his articles in 
 this number are generally known, and are incom- 
 parably the best. I have received the greater plea- 
 sure from this circumstance, because the genius of 
 that little man has remained almost unknown to all 
 but his most intimate acquaintances. His manner 
 is not at first pleasing ; what is worse, it is of that 
 cast which almost irresistibly impresses upon stran- 
 gers the idea of levity and superficial talents. Yet 
 there is not any man whose real character is so 
 much the reverse. He has, indeed, a very sportive 
 :md playful fancy, but it is accompanied with an 
 extensive and varied information, with a readiness 
 of apprehension almost intuitive, with judicious and 
 calm discernment, with a profound and penetrating 
 understanding." A character drawn with great 
 truth, and a prediction amply confirmed. 
 
 Many accounts have been given of the organiza- 
 tion by which the work was launched and piloted ; 
 but they are all superseded by the following ex- 
 planation, written by Jeffrey in November 1846, in 
 answer to a question put for Mr. Robert Chambers, 
 to whom and to his brother William, the public, and 
 especially the poor, have been so deeply indebted 
 for those judicious and cheap publications which 
 have so long instructed and tended to elevate the 
 people: — " I cannot say exactly where the project 
 
 • This Taper has been more than once published before d<
 
 136 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 of the Edinburgh Review was first talked of among 
 the projectors ; but the first serious consultations 
 about it, and which led to our application to a pub- 
 lisher, were held in a small house where I then 
 lived in Buccleuch Place. (I forget the number.) 
 They were attended by Sidney Smith, F. Horner, 
 Dr. Thomas Brown, Lord Murray, and some of them 
 also by Lord Webb Seymour, Dr. John Thomson, 
 and Thomas Thomson. The first three numbers 
 were given to the publisher — he taking the risk and 
 defraying the charges. There was then no indivi- 
 dual editor ; but as many of us as could be got to 
 attend, used to meet in a dingy room off Willison's 
 printing office, in Craig's Close, where t\\e, proofs of 
 our own articles were read over and remarked upon, 
 and attempts made also to sit in judgment on the 
 few manuscripts which were then afforded by stran- 
 gers. But we had seldom patience to go through 
 with these, and it was found necessary to have a 
 responsible editor, and the office was pressed upon 
 me. About the same time, Constable was told that 
 he must allow ten guineas a sheet to the contribu- 
 tors, to which lie at once assented; and not long 
 after, the minimum, was raised to sixteen guineas, 
 ;it which it remained during my reign, though 
 two-thirds of the articles were paid much higher — 
 averaging. I should think, from twenty to twenty - 
 five guineas a sheet on the whole number. 1 had, 
 I might say, an unlimited discretion in this respect, 
 and must do the publishers the justice to say that 
 they never made the slightest objection. Indeed, as
 
 APPOINTED EDITOE OF THE REVIEW. L37 
 
 we all knew that they had (for a long time at least), 
 a very great profit, they probably felt that they 
 were at our mercy. Smith was by far the most 
 timid of the confederacy, and believed that unless 
 our incognito was strictly maintained, we could not 
 go on a day. And this was his object for making 
 us hold our dark divans at Willison's office, to 
 which he insisted on our repairing singly, and by 
 back appr< >aches, or by different lanes ! ! He also had 
 
 so strong an impression of 's indiscretion and 
 
 rashness, that he would not let him be a member of 
 our association, though wished for by all the rest. 
 He was admitted, however, after the third number, 
 and did more work for us than anybody. Brown 
 took offence at some alteration Smith had made in 
 a trifling article of his in the second number, and 
 finally left us, thus early — publishing at the same 
 time in a magazine the fact of his secession, a step 
 which we all deeply regretted, and thought scarcely 
 justified by the provocation. Nothing of the kind 
 occurred ever after." 
 
 In saying that " there was no individual editor" 
 he does not mean to throw the slightest doubt on 
 Mr. Smith's statement, (p. 124), that he (Smith 
 edited the first number, — but only that though Mr. 
 Smith did so actually, it was not done in the capa- 
 city of an official editor, formally appointed. 
 
 In tin.' midst of the excitement and applause 
 of iliis work, he was saddened by the prospect of 
 soon losing the society of some of the more eminent 
 friends with whom he had embarked in it. " 1
 
 138 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 foresee the likelihood of our being all scattered be- 
 fore another year shall be over, and of course the 
 impossibility of going on, on the footing upon which 
 we have begun. Indeed few things have given me 
 more vexation of late than the prospect of the dis- 
 solution of that very pleasant and animated society 
 in which I have spent so much of my time for the 
 last four years ; and I am really inclined to be very 
 sad when I look forward to the time when I shall 
 be deserted by all the friends and companions who 
 possessed much of my confidence and esteem. You 
 are translated into England already. Horner goes 
 to the English bar in a year. S. Smith leaves this 
 country for ever, about the same time. Hamilton 
 spends his life abroad as soon as his father's death 
 sets him at liberty. Brougham will most probably 
 push into public life even before a similar event 
 gives him a favourable opportunity. Reddie is lost, 
 and absolutely swallowed up, in law. Lord Webb 
 leaves this before winter. Jo. Allan goes abroad 
 with Lord Holland immediately. Adam is gone 
 already, and, except Brown and John Murray, 1 do 
 not think that one of the associates with whom I 
 have speculated and amused myself, will be Left 
 with me in the course of eighteen months, [t is 
 not easy to form new intimacies, and 1 know enough 
 of the people among whom I must look for them, 
 to he positive th;it they will never be worthy of 
 their predecessors. Comfort me then, my dear 
 Bobby, in this real affliction." (To Morehead, 24th 
 May L802).
 
 Ills OLD EDINBURGH FRIENDS. L39 
 
 It was a real affliction indeed. Bnt it arose 
 chiefly from liis naturally thinking less of the old 
 friends who were to remain, than of those more re- 
 cent ones he was about to lose; and from the im- 
 possibility of his then being aware of the happiness 
 of the life that awaited him with other friends whom 
 he gradually acquired. 
 
 Of the ten persons mentioned in these com- 
 munications, only four are now alive, viz. — Lord 
 Brougham, Mr. Reddie, Mr. Thomas Thomson, and 
 Lord Murray. Of these it would be indecorous to 
 speak, in their own presence, as I would desire. 
 Of a person so eminent as Lord Brougham, indeed, 
 it would be even absurd to say anything in so un- 
 worthy a record as this. Of the other three, I shall 
 merely say enough to identify them. Mr. James 
 Reddie was at this time a very rising lawyer; who 
 has only been excluded from such honours as belong- 
 to the learning of the profession, by his settling- 
 early in Glasgow as the legal adviser of the muni- 
 cipal corporation. Mr. Murray, who thirty-two years 
 after this succeeded Jeffrey in the office of Lord 
 Advocate, is now a judge. Jeffrey had a very warm 
 affection for him ; and the friendship continued un- 
 broken to the last. He was in the same position 
 with relation to Mr. Thomson, the most learned and 
 judicious antiquary in Scotland. No one has done 
 nearly so much to recover, to arrange, to explain, 
 and to preserve, our historical muniments. He found 
 them almost a chaos, and, alter bringing them into 
 order, has left them on a system of which the value
 
 140 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 will be felt the more every day that they accumulate 
 His real merit, great as it may seem now, will seem 
 still greater five hundred years hence. He is at 
 present one of the principal clerks in the Supreme 
 Court. Had he not allowed his taste for antiquarian 
 research to allure him from the common drudgery of 
 his profession, he would have stood high in practice, 
 as he always did in character, at the bar • and would 
 now have been adorning the bench by his considerate 
 wisdom and peculiar learning. 
 
 The celebrity of those who are gone, makes if 
 unnecessary for me to attempt to describe them. 
 Mr. Smith is known by his works; Mr. Allen by his 
 writings, and by Lord Brougham's account of him;* 
 Mr. Horner by his Memoirs ; Mr. Brown by his 
 Lectures, and his Life by Welsh ; and Lord Webb 
 Seymour, a brother of the Duke of Somerset, by the 
 Biographical Notice of him by Mr. Hallam,f one of 
 the best portraits of a character in writing that exists. 
 He had come to Edinburgh in 1797, and resided 
 there till his lamented death in 1819. Horner and 
 Playfair were his particular friends, and all of that 
 calm east were so congenial to his truth-seeking 
 mind, that we used sometimes to admire his good 
 nature in tolerating the levity of Jeffrey. But Sey- 
 mour loved him sincerely, and this in spite of his 
 serene spirit being often troubled by onsets on his 
 most cherished doctrines, ami even by Laughter at 
 
 Historical Sketches. 
 In the Appendix to the lirsl volume of the Memoirs of Horner,
 
 Ills OLD EDINBURGH FRIENDS. 1 1 1 
 
 lii's grand philosophical designs. But a warm 
 mutual affection bound them tog-ether. Never was 
 a stranger more universally beloved in a city than 
 Seymour was. The very people on the streets reve- 
 renced the thoughtful air and countenance of the 
 English nobleman who honoured the place by 
 making it his home. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton was a Scotchman, who had been 
 in India; a little, amiable person, of excellent con- 
 versation, and great knowledge of Oriental litera- 
 ture. He was afterwards professor of Sanscrit in 
 the East India College at Haileyburv. 
 
 Dr. John Thomson was of the medical profession. 
 Beginning as a surgeon, he afterwards rose to exten- 
 sive practice as a physician, and obtained the chair 
 of Pathology in the College of Edinburgh. He was 
 a man of learning and enthusiasm, and contributed 
 several valuable papers to the earlier numbers of the 
 Review. Jeffrey and he continued in habits of inti- 
 mate friendship till Thomson's death, on the 11th of 
 October 1846. 
 
 Jeffrey's anticipations of the loss of the leading- 
 persons in this society proved true. It soon began 
 to dissolve, and within three years from the date of 
 his last letter, had almost totally disappeared. The 
 individual friendships survived; but, as an Edin- 
 burgh brotherhood, it had ceased. How fortunate 
 it is that his own anchor was fixed in his native soil, 
 and that he could not follow his friends into scenes 
 which no one was fitter to shine in; but which, 
 however fascinating to ambition, were not more
 
 142 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 favourable to happiness than the more peaceful ones 
 to which he was moored. He himself soon came to 
 think so. Writing to Horner (5th January 1804,) 
 he asks about Smith's prospects, and says, " I am 
 afraid Edinburgh is out of his scheme of life now, 
 at all events ; though I console myself with believ- 
 ing that you have all committed a great mistake in 
 leaving it, and that we have here capabilities of 
 happiness that will not so easily be found any 
 where else." 
 
 There is little else to be told of this interesting 
 band. They formed a distinct and marked sect; 
 distinguished by their reputation, their Whiggism, 
 and their strong mutual coherence. There were a 
 few men of the opposite party, or rather of no party, 
 by whom they were kindly received, such as Dr. 
 James Gregory, the Rev. Archibald Alison, Mr. 
 Henry Mackenzie, and Scott. But by the old Tories 
 of the correct stamp, they were disdained ; and by 
 the young ones, in whose imaginations their princi- 
 ples were only aggravated by their talents and their 
 gaiety, they were viewed with genuine horror. This 
 condensed them the more. In themselves they were 
 all merry, even the thoughtful Horner. They were 
 all full of hope; not one of them seeming ever to 
 doubt that lie would yet do something. They were 
 all very industrious. But, hard students though 
 the} were, they were always ready for a saunter, or 
 a discussion, and particularly for a hilarious supper. 
 " 1 despair (writes Jeffrey to Allen, on the 21st 
 January L804) of finding any substitute for those
 
 His <>L1) EDINBURGH FRIENDS. L43 
 
 quiet and confidential parties in which we used to 
 mingle, and play the fool together." They all 
 attained eminence in their respective paths; and 
 none of them ever forgot those old Edinburgh days. 
 Brown and John Thomson both left the Eeview 
 from offence, in its infancy; but this never impaired 
 the editor's regard, or that of his associates, for 
 them. And it was towards Jeffrey that the group 
 gravitated. Several of them surpassed him in indi- 
 vidual qualities, but none in general power ; and this 
 was attested, in spite of occasional perturbations, by 
 their all practically acknowledging him as their 
 centre. 
 
 Although he happens to mention Brown and 
 Mui-ray as his only remaining associates, he only 
 means those " with whom I have speculated and 
 amused myself." He had many other valued friends 
 left; and among others — the only person here who 
 overshadowed his literary fame — Walter Scott. 
 Every thing that ever occurred between these two 
 has been stated by Mr. Loekhart in his life of Sir 
 Walter; and I have only to explain that, though 
 always on excellent terms, their political opinions, 
 and the one being the critic and the other the criti- 
 cised, interfered with their being on habits of daily 
 and confidential intimacy. Scott, in mentioning 
 Jeffrey to Byron (16th July 1812), describes him as 
 " my friend Jeffrey, for such, in spite of many a feud, 
 literary and political, I always esteem him," which 
 discloses the obstacles that their regard had to con- 
 tend with. Even so late as 1827. in mentioning 1 a
 
 144 LIFE OF LOUD JEFFREY. 
 
 party at Mr. Murray's, where he met Jeffrey and 
 other Whig Mends, he observes in his journal, " I 
 do not know how it is, but when I am with a party 
 of my opposition friends, the day is often merrier 
 than with our own set;" and he accounts for this, 
 by saying, that " both parties meet with the feeling 
 of something like novelty.'" The fact that even to 
 a person of Scott's joviality and frankness, a dinner 
 together was a novelty, shews that their friendship, 
 though solid, was not embodied in habitual inter- 
 course. 
 
 Jeffrey had a son, bom in September 1802 ; but 
 he died on the 25th of October, after a few hours of 
 gentle illness. The sudden extinction of this child 
 made him nervous about all infantine maladies ever 
 after. 
 
 There are few men whom the fame and the occu- 
 pation of the Review would not have withdrawn 
 from such obscure professional employment as had 
 yet fallen, or seemed likely to fall, to his share. 
 But, with his usual prudence and energy, he strug- 
 gled to counteract the injury which a known addic- 
 tion to any other pursuit almost invariably does to 
 that of the law, by additional attention to whatever 
 its practice required. He was well aware of the 
 precariousness of an income depending on author- 
 snip, and knew that literature was seldom more 
 graceful than when combined with something more 
 solid, and, particularly, with eminence in a liberal 
 profession, lending to public consequence and to high 
 honours. In telling Horner (11th May 1803), who
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVIEW. 145 
 
 had left Edinburgh in the end of the preceding- 
 March, that he had agreed to become the regular 
 editor, he says, " If 1 do that well, and am regular 
 in my attendance, &c., perhaps the knowledge of 
 my new occupation may not very materially impede 
 my advancement. It will be known that my con- 
 nection with the Keview is not for life, and that I 
 will renounce it as soon as I can do without it. The 
 risk of sinking in the general estimation, and being- 
 considered as fairly articled to a trade that is not 
 perhaps the most respectable, has staggered me 
 more, I will acknowledge, than any other conside- 
 ration. I certainly would not leave, or even de- 
 grade, my profession, by becoming the editor of any 
 other journal in the kingdom ; but I cannot help 
 thinking that there are some peculiarities in our 
 publication that should remove a part of these 
 scruples." 
 
 Being informed that his brother was contem- 
 plating marriage, in America, he encouraged him 
 by this account of his own conjugal condition. 
 " After the experience of summer and winter, health 
 and sickness, gaiety and sorrow, I can say, con- 
 scientiously, that marriage has been to me a source 
 of inestimable happiness; and that I should be 
 much inclined to measure a man's capacities of 
 goodness by the effect it produces on him. The 
 great good, certainly, is the securing one steady and 
 affectionate friend, to whom all your concerns are 
 important, whom nothing can alienate or pervert, 
 and with whom there can be no misapprehension, 
 
 VOL. I. l
 
 146 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 concealment, or neglect. This is the true basis 
 upon which habit and recollection build a thousand 
 secondary affections. To you I think marriage will 
 be of unusual advantage ; for your wandering and 
 unsettled life made some fixation particularly neces- 
 sary ; and the light holds of casual friendship and 
 idle acquaintances will be in danger of producing a 
 cold and selfish impatience of stronger and narrower 
 ties. As to your choice, I daresay it is excellent. 
 Indeed a man of tolerable sense can hardly choose 
 ill, if he do not choose in a fever of admiration. 
 For most part of the endearment that makes the 
 happiness of marriage, comes after the romantic 
 ardours have blazed out. Your Susan will not think 
 this very complimentary, so I beg you would not 
 tell her; but say, I am sure, she is an angel, and 
 that there is no angel I long so much to meet with. 
 I am glad she is little, for the honour of our fra- 
 ternity ; and think, indeed, from your whole de- 
 scription, that she would suit me much better than 
 the wife I have, who is constantly insulting me on 
 my stature and my levity. Perhaps we may ne- 
 gociate an exchange when we meet, after the fashion 
 of the ancient Britons." 
 
 When Horner w ithdrew from Edinburgh, he left 
 a legacy of his bar wig to Jeffrey, who tells him, 
 after trying it about a fortnight, — "Your wig at- 
 tracts great admiration, and I hope in time it will 
 attract great fees also. But in spite of the addition 
 it makes to my honour and beauty, I must confess 
 that the Parliament House appears duller and more
 
 eorner's wig. ] 17 
 
 ridiculous this season than usual. Some of the Inst 
 wearer's contempt, I suppose, still sticks to the cowl 
 of the said wig, and oozes into my head. Now that 
 the evening's are growing long, and the town empty, 
 I often wisli you were here to speculate with me 
 upon Queen Street."— (26th May 1803). The hair- 
 dresser who made one wig fit these two, ought to 
 
 O 7 O 
 
 have been elevated to the deaconship of the craft ; 
 for nature never produced two heads less alike, 
 either in form or hulk. The explanation, however, 
 is that almost all wigs were the same to Jeffrey, for 
 none ever fitted him. He and his wig were always 
 on bad terms ; and the result was that he very 
 seldom wore one. Throughout nearly the whole of 
 the last fifteen or twenty years of his practice, he 
 was conspicuous, and nearly solitary, in his then 
 black and bushy hair. 
 
 It was in 1803 that a private institution arose, 
 upon which much of his social happiness, and that 
 of many of his best friends depended for nearly 
 forty years. He says to Horner (15th June 1803) — 
 " I forgot to ask Murray if he has told you about 
 our club. In two words, it is to be a weekly meet- 
 ing of all the literary and social persons in the city ; 
 and we set out last Friday with sixteen. The idea 
 was Walter Scott's. All his friends are included 
 and all ours. We have besides, John Playfair, 
 Alex. Irving, H. Mackenzie, Sir James Hall, and I 
 believe Alison. Our complement is to be thirty, 
 and two black balls to exclude any candidate. I 
 think it promises to unite the literature of the place 
 more effectually and extensively than any tiling else.
 
 148 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 You shall be admitted as a visitor when you can 
 spare us a vacation visit." This refers to the 
 Friday club — so called from the day on which it 
 first used to meet. It was entirely of a literary and 
 social character, and was open, without any practi- 
 cal limitation of numbers, to any person generally 
 resident in Edinburgh, who was supposed to com- 
 bine a taste for learning or science with agreeable 
 manners, and especially with perfect safety. The 
 following were all the members, with the years of 
 their joining, who ever belonged to it. Those 
 marked by an asterisk are the present survivors : — 
 
 1803. Sir James Hall — geology and architecture, &c. 
 Dugald Stewart. 
 John Playfair. 
 Rev. Archd. Alison — sermons, essays on 
 
 taste. 
 Rev. Sidney Smith. 
 Rev. John Elmsley, Oxford. 
 Alex. Irving, afterwards Lord Newton, a 
 
 Judge. 
 William Erskine, afterwards Lord Kinnedar, 
 
 a Judge. 
 George Cranstoun, afterwards Lord Corehouse, 
 
 a Judge. 
 Sir Walter Scott. 
 Francis Jeffrey. 
 Thomas Thomson, afterwards Clerk of Session 
 
 — various antiquarian works. 
 Dr. John Thomson, physician and professor — 
 
 Lectures on inflammation, &c. &c.
 
 THE FRIDAY CLUB. I I'.l 
 
 John A. Murray, afterwards Lord Advocate. 
 now Lord Murray. 
 ° Henry Brougham. 
 
 Henry Mackenzie — the Man of Feeling, &c. 
 Henry J. Mackenzie, Lord Mackenzie, a Judge. 
 Malcolm Laing, historian. 
 ' H. Cockburn, now Lord Cockbum, a Judge. 
 ° John Kichardson, solicitor in London. 
 John Allen. 
 Francis Horner. 
 
 Thomas Campbell — Pleasures of Hope,&c.&c. 
 1804. Alex. Hamilton, orientalist. 
 
 Andrew Coventry, physician, and professor 
 
 of agriculture. 
 John Robison, professor of natural history — 
 Life of Black, &c. &c. 
 * George Strickland, afterwards Sir George, M.P. 
 Andrew Dalzell, professor of Greek. 
 Lord Webb Seymour. 
 Earl of Selkirk — emigration, &c. &c. 
 Lord Glenbervie. 
 1807. Rev. John Thomson. 
 1810. John Jeffrey. 
 
 1811.° Thomas F. Kennedy, of Dunure, formerly 
 M. P., Treasurer of Ireland, &c, now Com- 
 missioner of Woods and Forests. 
 John Fullerton, now Lord Fullerton, a Judge. 
 L812. George Wilson, retired English lawyer. 
 1814. John Gordon, physician. 
 1816.° Andrew Rutherfurd, since Lord Advocate, 
 and now Lord Rutherfurd, a Judge.
 
 150 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 1817. James Keay, of Snaigo, advocate. 
 1825.° Leonard Horner, late President of the Geolo- 
 gical Society, London — his brother's me- 
 moirs, &c. 
 ° James Pillans, professor of humanity. 
 1826.° Count M. De Flahaut. 
 
 David Cathcart, Lord Alloway, a Judge, 
 1827.°Earl of Minto, Lord Privy Seal. 
 "William Murray of Henderland. 
 1830.°Mountstuart Elphinstone, India. 
 1833.° James Abercrombie, afterwards Speaker. 
 
 " It was announced at the last club that Lord 
 Webb was to pass next winter in Edinburgh. I 
 hope you will confirm this, and send him down fully 
 convinced that, without being a member of the said 
 club, it is impossible to have any tolerable existence 
 in Edinburgh."— (To Horner, 8th August 1803). 
 This was not exactly the fact, for there were many 
 literary and excellent men who were never in it; 
 but no one acquainted with this place can fail to 
 perceive that these are distinguished Edinburgh 
 names; perhaps the most so that have been united, 
 and adhered so Long, in any such association in our 
 day. Admission as members was restricted to those 
 living in Edinburgh; but strangers were very freely 
 introduced as visitors. At first the club met weekly, 
 and only to supper, a favourite refection in old 
 Edinburgh, and <>nc that, not only in 1803, but for 
 many years thereafter, was cultivated as a necessary 
 part of life, in a majority of rational houses. "Our
 
 THE FRIDAY CLUB. 151 
 
 club comes on admirably. We have go«t Dugald 
 Stewart, the Man of Feeling, Sir James Hall, John 
 Playfair, and four or five more of the senior literati, 
 and we sit chatting every week till two o'clock in 
 the morning."— (To John, 30th July 1803.) How- 
 ever, though there be more cheerfulness, ease, and 
 kindness, at one supper than at a dozen of heavy 
 dinners, still, like other excellent things, they have 
 fallen under the fashionable ban, and will soon be 
 unknown ; for, though the two be sometimes com- 
 pared, nothing is less like a supper than a late 
 dinner. Even the Friday's weekly suppers came to 
 be aided by a monthly banquet at six o'clock*, and 
 then the Roman meal disappeared as the principal 
 repast. But the philosophers rarely parted without 
 supper too. The dinner took place throughout 
 seven months in the year, and parsimony was cer- 
 tainly not one of its vices. We were troubled by 
 no written laws, no motions, no disputes, no ballots, 
 no fines, no business of any kind, except what was 
 managed by one of ourselves as secretary ; an office 
 held by Mr. Richardson from 1803 to 1806, when he 
 settled in London; by me, from 1806 to 1834; then 
 by Mr. Rutherfurd. Nobody was admitted by any 
 formal vote. New members grew in silently, by a 
 sort of elective attraction. The established taste 
 was for quiet, talk, and good wine. 
 
 And here were many of the best social evenings 
 of some of our best men passed. After Smith and 
 one or two more left us to ourselves, Scott, Thus. 
 Thomson, Jeffrey, and Playfair, were the best club-
 
 152 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 bists. Scott was absent very seldom, the other three 
 almost never. The professional art of show conver- 
 sation was held in no esteem. Colloquial ambition 
 would have been so entirely out of place, that there 
 was never even an indication of its approach. The 
 charm was in having such men in their natural con- 
 dition, during their u careless and cordial hours." 
 The preceding asterisks tell why the association has, 
 for some years, been practically dissolved. Death, 
 sickness, and age, having extinguished its lights, it 
 has been wisely allowed to pass away. 
 
 The College was established at Calcutta about 
 the beginning of the century, and Jeffrey was in 
 some danger of being lost by having the honour of 
 obtaining its chair of moral and political science. 
 Homer, who seems to have suggested the scheme, 
 actually advised him to go into this respectable 
 banishment. " I shall have the purest and most 
 cordial pleasure when I hail you professor" — (8th 
 November 1803) ; and Jeffrey himself was actually 
 anxious to be so hailed. He said that his feelings 
 consisted of — " 1st, a great obligation to you, and 
 something like humiliation in the persuasion of not deserv- 
 ing so high an estimation. 2d, a tolerably sober per- 
 suasion that I should not be qualified for the duties 
 of the situation ; and 3d, a sort of assurance that 
 it will never be put in my power." He adds, how- 
 ever, — " I think I may venture to say thai I should 
 be extremely gratified by such an appointment. Why do 
 you not apply for it to yourself." — (lLHli November 
 L803.) In n few days lie says, " I wait your further
 
 VOLUNTEEES. 153 
 
 communications in perfect tranquillity, and shall 
 bear my disappointment, I am persuaded, as 
 
 heroically as I did in the case of the collectors of 
 decisions." — (22d November 1803.) What became 
 of the plan I do not know ; but, mercifully, he did 
 not get it. Poverty alone, the usual reason for 
 voluntary exile, accounts for his ever harbouring 
 the thought of taking it. His professional income 
 this year, after above nine years anxious and steady 
 attendance at the bar, was only £240. — (Letter to 
 Horner, 21st March 1804.) 
 
 The intended gown of the Asiatic professor was 
 succeeded by the uniform of the actual ensign. — " I 
 do not know if I told you that a heroic band of us 
 have offered our services as riflemen, and that I have 
 great hopes of turning out an illustrious general 
 before the war is over. I am studying the King of 
 Prussia's tactics, and find I get on amazingly." — 
 (To John, 23d July 1803.) This design failed, and 
 then he took a commission in an excellent Edin- 
 burgh battalion. " I am made ensign, with a vast 
 cocked hat ; under which I had the satisfaction of 
 shaking hands with Major David Hmne, last Satur- 
 day, on the parade." — (To Horner, 21st January 
 1804.) Volunteering was then unavoidable; whether 
 from patriotism, contagion, or amusement. But it 
 was no nominal service with Jeffrey, because he was 
 a sincere believer in the almost absolute certain tv 
 of actual invasion, and that lie was to be "piked" 
 at the head of his company. This was certainly 
 not the usual practical feeling. Very few went to
 
 154 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 parade with any serious impression of either im- 
 mediate personal or public danger. I forget how 
 long he remained under the cocked hat, but I never 
 saw a worse soldier. He never even got the length 
 of being at home in his uniform, and never cared 
 about his military business ; but seemed to be 
 always absorbed in his own speculations. I doubt 
 if the King of Prussia's tactics enabled him to face 
 his company either to the right or to the left. 
 
 Towards the close of this year (1803), he was 
 forced into a dispute so contemptible, that, as it is 
 the duty of biography rather to cleanse away, than 
 to perpetuate incidents, which, though they might 
 gratify diseased curiosity, neither illustrate charac- 
 ter, nor are of any intrinsic value, I would not notice 
 it, had it not been that Jeffrey made it the subject 
 of a public defence. The substance of the matter is 
 this: — Mr. John Thelwall, who was acquitted of high 
 treason in London, in 1794, published a volume of 
 poems, which, in April 1803, Jeffrey had reviewed, 
 (No. 3, art. 21) with what he thought just ridicule 
 and contempt. Mr. Thelwall came to Edinburgh in 
 December thereafter, and tried a course of public 
 lectures " on Elocution and Oratory." The course 
 failed <>n the very first performance, from the 
 laughter of the audience, aggravated, no doubt, by 
 the personal unpopularity here of the lecturer. In 
 a few days Mr. Thelwall published a long and very 
 violent pamphlet ; which, besides answering the 
 review, charged Jeffrey with \\.w ]]\<r amfederated w\th 
 certain associates t<> obstruct the Lecture, and with
 
 DISPUTE WITH THELWALL. 155 
 
 having carried this conspiracy into effect by conceal- 
 ing himself behind a screen, and making the neces- 
 sary signals. All this was stated in the most offen- 
 sive possible terms. It was thought right, though 
 contrary to Horner's opinion, that Jeffrey should 
 answer, which he did in a few pages, denying the 
 statements. Mr. Thelwall, in order to remove the 
 doubts of his friends by identifying Jeffrey as the 
 conspirator behind the screen, went into the court, 
 and pointed out the guilty man. But this happened 
 to be Sir Walter Scott's friend, Mr. William Erskine ; 
 whose dislike of the traitor, which he and others 
 held the acquitted man to be, had no doubt been 
 conspicuous enough at the lecture ; though certainly 
 without any concealment or confederacy. Notwith- 
 standing this refutation of the charge, the whole 
 statements were repeated in a reply by All". Thelwall, 
 " To the calumnies, misrepresentations, and literary for- 
 geries" of his reviewer. 1 ' 
 
 Jeffrey was in London in the spring of 1804, 
 for the first time, apparently, since the review had 
 given him celebrity ; and enjoyed that world with 
 the delight with which, as a temporary excitement, 
 he always tasted it. " I have come (he tells his 
 brother, 12th April 1804) on the pretext of recruit- 
 ing for reviews, and of attending an appeal cause 
 or two, but entre-nous, my chief motive has been to 
 enjoy the society of some of my best friends, thai 
 are now settled in this place, and to solace myself 
 
 * I have been told that, many years afterwards, they mel amicably
 
 156 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 with the spectacle and the conversation of such of 
 the great political and literary characters as I can 
 get access to. Hitherto I have found the avenues 
 very open, and have been received into a great deal 
 of good company, with some favour and distinction. 
 To say the truth, I never saw anything of London 
 before, and I enter into anything that is proposed 
 to me with all the ardour and expectation of a boy 
 from college. I find so much to do and to attend 
 to, that I regret the necessity of eating and sleep- 
 ing, and, indeed, have not been five hours in bed at 
 a time since my arrival. The literary men, I ac- 
 knowledge, excite my reverence the least. The 
 powerful conversations alarm me a good deal ; and 
 the great public orators fill me with despair." 
 
 Of course he could not find in Scotland, or 
 any where else, the variety and the brilliancy of 
 London society. But he returned to a society 
 which he entirely loved, and which was worthy of 
 him ; and in which he was beginning to rise into 
 that unanimous esteem which he at last, though not 
 speedily, reached. 
 
 The society of Edinburgh was not that of a pro- 
 vincial town, and cannot be judged of by any such 
 standard. It was metropolitan. Trade or manu- 
 factures have, fortunately, never marked this city 
 for their own. I>ut it is honoured by the presence 
 of a college famous throughout the world; and 
 from which the world has been supplied with 
 many of the distinguished men who have shone in 
 it. It is the seat of the supreme courts of justice,
 
 EDINBURGH SOCIETY. L57 
 
 and of the animal convocation of the Church, 
 formerly no small matter; and of almost all the 
 government offices and influence. At the period I 
 am referring to, this combination of quiet with 
 aristocracy, made it the resort, to a far greater ex- 
 tent than it is now, of the families of the gentry, 
 who used to leave their country residences and en- 
 joy the gaiety and the fashion which their presence 
 tended to promote. Many of the curious characters 
 and habits of the receding age, the last purely 
 Scotch age that Scotland was destined to see, still 
 lingered among us. Several were then to be met 
 with who had seen the Pretender, with his court 
 and his wild followers, in the palace of Holyrood. 
 Almost the whole official state, as settled at the 
 union, survived ; and all graced the capital, un- 
 conscious of the economical scythe which has since 
 mowed it down. All our nobility had not then fled. 
 A few had sense not to feel degraded by being 
 happy at home. The old town was not quite de- 
 serted. Many of our principal people still dignified 
 its picturesque recesses and historical mansions, and 
 were dignified by them. The closing of the Con- 
 tinent sent many excellent English families and 
 youths among us, for education and for pleasure. 
 The war brightened us with uniforms, and strangers, 
 and shows. 
 
 Over all this there was diffused the influence of 
 a greater number of persons attached to literature 
 and science, some as their calling, and some for 
 pleasure, than could be found, in proportion to the
 
 158 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 population, in any other city in the empire. Within 
 a few years, including the period I am speaking of, 
 the college contained Principal Robertson, Joseph 
 Black, his successor Hope, the second Munro, James 
 Gregory, John Eobison, John Playfair, and Dugald 
 Stewart ; none of them confined monastically to 
 their books, but all (except Robison who was in 
 bad health) partaking of the enjoyments of the 
 world. Episcopacy gave us the Rev. Archibald 
 Alison ; and in Blair, Henry, John Home, Sir Harry 
 Moncrieff, and others, Presbytery made an excellent 
 contribution, the more to be admired that it came 
 from a church which eschews rank, and boasts 01 
 poverty. The law, to which Edinburgh has always 
 been so largely indebted, sent its copious supplies ; 
 who, instead of disturbing good company by pro- 
 fessional matter, an offence with which the lawyers 
 of every place are charged, were remarkably free of 
 this vulgarity ; and being trained to take difference 
 of opinion easily, and to conduct discussions with 
 forbearance, were, without undue obtrusion, the 
 most cheerful people that were to be met with. 
 Lords Monboddo, Hailes, Glenlee, Meadowbank, 
 and Woodhouselee, all literary judges, and Robert 
 Blair, Henry Erskine, and Henry Mackenzie, senior, 
 were at tlie earlier end of this file; Scott and Jeffrey 
 at the later; but including a variety of valuable 
 persons between these extremities. Sir William 
 Forbes, Sir .lames Hall, and Mr. Clerk of Kldin, re- 
 presented a class of country gentlemen cultivating 
 learning on its account. And there were several,
 
 EDINBURGH SOCIETY. L59 
 
 who, like the founder of the Huttonian Theory, 
 selected this city for their residence solely from the 
 consideration in which science and letters were here 
 held, and the facilities, or rather the temptations, 
 presented for their prosecution. Philosophy had 
 become indigenous in the place, and all classes, 
 even in their gayest hours, were proud of the pre- 
 sence of its cultivators. Thus learning was im- 
 proved by society, and society by learning. And 
 unless when party spirit interfered, which at one 
 time, however, it did frequently and bitterly, per- 
 fect harmony, and indeed lively cordiality, pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 And all this was still a Scotch scene. The 
 whole country had not begun to be absorbed in the 
 ocean of London. There were still little great 
 places ; — places with attractions quite sufficient to 
 retain men of talent or learning in their comfort- 
 able and respectable provincial positions ; and which 
 were dignified by the tastes and institutions which 
 learning and talent naturally rear. The operation 
 of the commercial principle which tempts all superi- 
 ority to try its fortune in the greatest accessible 
 market, is perhaps irresistible ; but anything is 
 surely to be lamented which annihilates local intel- 
 lect, and degrades the provincial spheres which 
 intellect and its consequences can alone adorn. 
 According to the modern rate of travelling, the 
 capitals of Scotland and of England were then 
 about 2400 miles asunder. Edinburgh was still 
 more distant in its style and habits. It had then
 
 160 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 its own independent tastes, and ideas, and pursuits. 
 Enough of the generation that was retiring survived 
 to cast an antiquarian air over the city, and the 
 generation that was advancing was still a Scotch 
 production. Its character may be estimated by the 
 names I have mentioned ; and by the fact that the 
 genius of Scott and of Jeffrey had made it the seat 
 at once of the most popular poetry, and the most 
 brilliant criticism, that then existed. This city has 
 advantages, including its being the capital of Scot- 
 land, its old reputation, and its external beauties, 
 which have enabled it, in a certain degree, to resist 
 the centralising tendency, and have hitherto always 
 supplied it with a succession of eminent men. But 
 now, that London is at our door, how precarious is 
 our hold of them, and how many have we lost. 
 
 It was in this community that Jeffrey now 
 began to rise. It required some years more to work 
 off the prejudices that had obstructed him, but his 
 
 * There could scarcely have been a more interesting work than 
 one that described the progress of manners in Scotland from about 
 1740 to 1800, including accounts of the curious and distinguished 
 people who rose during these sixty years. From about 1800, every- 
 thing purely Scotch has been fading. A good exhibition of the 
 old habits, and of the eminent and picturesque men, who then ex- 
 isted, but were passing away, would have derived a deeper interest 
 from the certainty that on such national peculiarities could be much 
 longer retained, l'ul such a picture could only have proceeded 
 from a man of observation and intelligence, who had lived in the 
 very scenes, and either collected his materials at the time, or wrote 
 from a vigilant and candid memory. It is to be feared that it can 
 never be done now. Bui the whole previous history of Scotland 
 furnishes no such subject.
 
 DEATH OF Ills SISTER. Mil 
 
 genuine excellence did work them off at last; till, 
 
 from being tolerated, he became liked ; from being 
 liked, popular ; from being popular, necessary; and 
 in t lie end was wrapped in the whole love of the 
 plaee. His favourite social scenes, next to bis 
 strictly private ones, were the more select parties 
 where intellect was combined with cheerfulness, and 
 good talk with simplicity. But though a great 
 critic of social manners, no one was less discom- 
 posed by vulgarities or stupidities, if combined with 
 worth, when they fell in his way. No clever, talk- 
 ing, man could have more tolerance than he had for 
 common-place people; a class, indeed, to which 
 many of his best friends belonged. I have heard 
 him, when the supercilious were professing to be 
 shocked by such persons, thank God that lie had 
 never lost his taste for bad company. 
 
 He had only returned from London a few days, 
 when he lost his sister, Mrs. Napier — a severe afflic- 
 tion ; which he announced to his remaining sister, 
 Mrs. Brown, in the following letter, of the 18th 
 of May 1804 :— u My dearest Mainie, About the 
 time that I received your letter of anxious inquiry 
 this morning, your husband would receive the me- 
 lancholy answer. We are a little more composed 
 now, but this has been a very heavy blow upon us 
 all, and much more so on me than I had believed 
 possible. The habit of seeing her almost every 
 day, and of living intimately together since our 
 infancy, had wound so many threads of affection 
 round my heart, that when they were burst at once, 
 
 VOL. |. M
 
 162 LIFE OF LOED JEFFREY. 
 
 the shock was almost overwhelming. Then the 
 unequalled gentleness of her disposition, the un- 
 affected worth of her affections, and miraculous 
 simplicity of character and manners, which made 
 her always appear as pure and innocent as an infant, 
 took so firm, though gentle, a hold on the heart of 
 every one who approached her, — that even those 
 who are comparatively strangers to her worth have 
 
 been greatly afflicted by her loss 
 
 During the whole of her illness she looked beauti- 
 ful, and when I gazed upon her the moment after 
 she had breathed her last, as she lay still, still and 
 calm, with her bright eyes half closed, and her red 
 lips half open, I thought I had never seen a counte- 
 nance so lovely. A statuary might have taken her 
 for a model. Poor dear love, I kissed her cold 
 lips, and pressed her cold wan lifeless hand, and 
 would willingly at that moment have put off my 
 own life too and followed her. When I came here 
 the sun was rising, and the birds were singing 
 gaily, as I sobbed along the empty streets. I 
 thought my heart would have burst at that mo- 
 ment, and I am sure I shall never forget the agita- 
 tion I then suffered." 
 
 J le never forgot another thing. His affection for 
 her who was gone, was continued for her children, 
 to whom he was ever a kind and faithful uncle. 
 The duties of that relationship could not be per- 
 formed with greater fidelity or love. They deserved 
 his kindness; hut it was also a constantly renewed 
 homage to the memory of their mother.
 
 DEATH OF MRS. JEFFREY. 1. 63 
 
 A letter to Horner (28th October 1804) contains 
 a prediction, which, had Horner's life been spared, 
 would very probably have been realized. — " Hetty's 
 boot [lie means Miss Hamilton) has not readied me 
 vet. I mean to be merciful, if I touch her at all. 
 To say the truth, I am sick of abusing. I have not 
 been writing any session (law) papers, nor anything 
 half so good. Nor do I expect to be Lord Advocate 
 till you are Lord ( diancellor." 
 
 Another of his Edinburgh friends left him soon 
 after this. " Nothing (he writes to Horner, 19th 
 November 1804) but emigration to London. My 
 good friend Charles Bell is about to follow your 
 cursed example. He has almost determined to fly, 
 and to take shelter in the great asylum. I have 
 a very great affection and esteem for him, and 
 can, moreover, assure you that you will find him 
 very modest, intelligent, honourable, grateful, and 
 gentle." 
 
 Severe as the death of his sister had been, a far 
 heavier calamity now fell upon him. Mrs. Jeffrey 
 had been in feeble health for some time, but was 
 not supposed to be in danger, when on the 8th of 
 August 1805, she died. His utter desolation upon 
 this unexpected annihilation of all his enjoyments 
 and hopes can he described by no one but himself. 
 He told his brother what happened in the following 
 letter: — " Edinburgh, loth August 1805. — My dear 
 John, I am at this moment of all men the most 
 miserable and disconsolate. It is just a week to- 
 day since my sweet Kitty died in my arms, and left
 
 164 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 me without joy, or hope, or comfort, in this world. 
 Her health had been long very delicate, and during 
 this summer rather more disordered than usual ; but 
 we fancied she was with child, and rather looked 
 f< >rward to her complete restoration. She was finally 
 seized with the most excruciating headaches, which 
 ended in an effusion of water on the brain, and sunk 
 her into a lamentable stupor, which terminated in 
 death. It is impossible for me to describe to you 
 the feeling of lonely and hopeless misery with 
 which 1 have since been oppressed. I doted upon 
 her, I believe, more than man ever did on a woman 
 before ; and after four years of marriage, was more 
 tenderly attached to her than on the day which 
 made her mine. I took no interest in anything 
 which had not some reference to her, and had no 
 enjoyment away from her, except in thinking what 
 I should have to tell or to show her on my return ; 
 and I have never returned to her, after half a day's 
 absence, without feeling my heart throb, and my eye 
 brighten, with all the ardour and anxiety of a youth- 
 ful passion. All the exertions I ever made in the 
 world were for her sake entirely. You know how 
 indolent I was by nature, and how regardless of 
 reputation and fortune. l>ut it was a delight to me 
 to lay these things at the feet of my darling, and to 
 invest her with sonic portion of the distinction she 
 deserved, and to increase the pride and the vanity 
 she felt for her husband, by accumulating these 
 public tests of his merit. She had so lively a relish 
 lor life too, and so unquenchable and unbroken a 

 
 DEATB OF MRS. JEFFREY. L65 
 
 hope in the midst of protracted illness and Languor, 
 that the stroke which cut it off for ever appears 
 equally cruel and unnatural. Though familiar with 
 sickness, she seemed to have nothing to do with 
 death. She always recovered so rapidly, and was 
 so cheerful, and affectionate, and playful, that it 
 scarcely entered into my imagination that the re 
 could be one sickness from which she would not re- 
 cover. We had arranged several little projects of 
 amusement for the autumn, and she talked of them, 
 poor thing, with unabated confidence and delight, 
 as long as she was able to talk coherently at all. I 
 have the consolation to think that the short time 
 she passed with me was as happy as love and hope 
 could make it. In spite of her precarious health, 
 she has often assured me that she was the happiest 
 of women, and would not change her condition with 
 any human creature. Indeed we lived in a delight- 
 ful progress of everything that could contribute to 
 our felicity. Everything was opening and brighten- 
 ing before us. Our circumstances, our society, were 
 rapidly improving, our understandings were expand- 
 ing, and even our love and confidence in each other 
 increasing from day to day. Now, I have no interest 
 in anything, and no object or motive for being in 
 the world. I wish you had known my Kitty, for I 
 cannot describe her to you, and nobody else knows 
 enough of her. The most peculiar and ennobling 
 part of her character was a high principle of honour, 
 integrity, and generosity, that would have been re- 
 markable in a man, and which I never nut with in
 
 166 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 a woman before. She had no conception of prevari- 
 cating, shuffling, or disguising. There was a clear 
 transparency in her soul, without affectation or re- 
 serve, which won your implicit confidence, and 
 commanded your respect. Then she was the simplest 
 and most cheerful of human beings ; the most unas- 
 suming, easy, and affectionate ; dignified in her de- 
 portment, but affable and engaging in conversation. 
 Her sweetness and cheerfulness in sickness won the 
 hearts of all who came near her. She was adored 
 by her servants, and has been wept for by her phy- 
 sicians, by the chairmen who used to carry her, and 
 the tradesmen with whom she dealt. ! my dear 
 John, my heart is very cold and heavy, and my 
 prospect of life every way gloomy and deplorable. 
 I had long been accustomed to place all my notions 
 of happiness in domestic life ; and I had found it 
 there, so pure, perfect, and entire, that I can never 
 look for it any where else, or hope for it in any 
 other form. Heaven protect you from the agony it 
 lias imposed upon me. Write me soon to say that 
 you arc happy, and that you and your Susan will 
 love me. My heart is shut at this time to every- 
 thing but sorrow, but I think it must soon open to 
 affection. All your friends here are well. I shall 
 write you again soon. Ever, my dear John, most 
 affectionately yours." — F. .1. 
 
 Ail his letters upon this bereavement are fraught 
 with the same tenderness and despair, lie never, 
 before or after, was in such suffering, or in such 
 danger. Mrs. Jeffrey was sensible, cheerful, affec-
 
 DEATH OF MRS. JEFFREY. KIT 
 
 tionate, and natural ; well qualified to recommend 
 him, and to gratify that strong home taste on which, 
 amidst all his worldly gaiety, his real enjoyment 
 almost wholly depended. When his first fabric of 
 happiness was overthrown, and he was left to the 
 loneliness of his own house, witli his wife and child 
 in their graves, and neither brother nor sister beside 
 him, there was reason to fear that his sensibility 
 would be too deeply and too permanently agitated 
 to admit of his carrying on the progress in which 
 he had been so steadily advancing. But his good 
 sense and resolute principle prevailed, and he com- 
 pelled himself to adhere to the course of his pre- 
 scribed life. Neither tin- Review nor his profession 
 were abandoned; society, instead of being renounced, 
 was resorted to more largely as an interruption to 
 the bitterness of his domestic solitude. Seen ex- 
 temallv, he might have been mistaken for one on 
 whose heart sorrow sat lightly. But the truth was 
 told to Horner. — (12th October 1805). 
 
 " I thank you for the repeated inquiries into the 
 state of my feelings. I do not think that time has 
 made any great change on them ; yet, you w r ill find 
 me social enough, and even gay in society. I can- 
 not bear to talk of what eno-rosses almost all my 
 thoughts, and tremble at the idea of suggesting to 
 those about me the bitter recollections on which I 
 
 ■ The gentle and pious Cowper, when in one of his afflictions, 
 
 tells Newton (3d August 1781) that "Dissipation itself would he 
 welcome to me, so that it were not a vicious one ; hut, however 
 earnestly invited, it is coy. and keeps at a distance."
 
 168 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 am secretly dwelling. My friends at a distance 
 know much more of the state of my mind than those 
 who are near me. I can write, or rather I cannot 
 help writing, about them, but I cannot speak. The 
 sight of a serene countenance, the sound of a cheer- 
 ful voice, locks up my heart. I have never shed a 
 tear in the sight of any male being but George Bell, 
 whom I have known from my infancy, and who was 
 acquainted with my poor Kitty for years before we 
 were married. I will tell you honestly the state of 
 my mind, my dear Homer, because I know you will 
 neither despise me nor wonder at me. I am in- 
 wardly sick of life, and take no serious interest in 
 any of the objects it offers to me. I receive amuse- 
 ment from its common occurrences very nearly as 
 formerly ; but I have no longer any substantial 
 happiness, and everything that used to communicate 
 it oppresses me. My imagination and my under- 
 standing are exercised as they used to be, but my 
 heart is dead, and cold; and I return from these 
 mechanical and habitual exertions to weep over my 
 internal desolation, and to wonder why I linger 
 here/" 
 
 Notwithstanding this, strong reason, and a strong 
 sense of duty, made him resist despair, and cling to 
 his living friendships, and adhere to the perform- 
 ance of all Ins tasks; and time began to work its 
 miracle. 
 
 The L3th number of the Review, in October 
 l.so"), contained an article by him on Southey's 
 Madoc. Mosl people reading that paper now, and
 
 mi;, south ky. 1G0 
 
 considering the oblivion into which the poem has 
 fallen, will be surprised at the praise given to it, 
 and at the striking beauties pointed out. But as it 
 also pointed out great defects, of course the author's 
 anger was much beyond his gratitude. Mr. Southey 
 came to Edinburgh on the 12th of October, and the 
 article was sent to him before it was given to the 
 public. Jeffrey tells Mr. Horner, in a letter dated 
 that day, that " Southey is to be here to-day with 
 P. Elmsley. I mean to let him read my review of 
 Madoc before I put myself in the way of meeting 
 with him. He is too much a man of the world, I 
 believe, in spite of his poesy, to decline seeing me, 
 whatever he may think of the critic." They met 
 after this, and, among other places, at the Friday 
 Club ; and this is Southey's impression of his new 
 acquaintance : — " I have seen Jeffrey, &c. I met 
 him in good humour, being by God's blessing, of a 
 happy temper. Having seen him, it would be im- 
 possible to be angry at any thing so diminutive. 
 We talked upon the question of taste, on which we 
 are at issue ; he is a mere child upon that subject. 
 I never met with a man who it was so easy to check- 
 mate."— (Letter to Will. Taylor, 22d October 1805, 
 in Eobberd's Life of Taylor, vol. ii. p. 101.) Jeffrey's 
 being a child in taste, and easily check-mated in 
 discussion, will probably strike those who knew him 
 as novelties in his character. He was much more 
 likely to have played on in spite of the check, or to 
 have prevented his antagonist from seeing that it 
 had been ffiven.
 
 170 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 In spring of 180(3, another, and the last of the 
 emigrations of his comrades, took place by the de- 
 parture for London of Mr. John Richardson, now of 
 Kirklands, and one of the most distinguished of the 
 respectable body of Scotch solicitors there. He is 
 already favourably known to the public by the bio- 
 graphies of his friends Scott and Campbell ; and the 
 more that the lives of others of the best literary men 
 of his time shall be disclosed, the more will his 
 merit as their associate appear. Few persons have 
 combined with greater success, and with less osten- 
 tation, the regular toil of a laborious profession, with 
 the indulgence of a literary taste. Had he followed 
 the bent of his inclination, literature would probably 
 have been his vocation. But he has done much 
 better, were it only by the example which he has 
 set. He knew Jeffrey in the days of the Lawn- 
 market, from which beginning there was nothing 
 but friendship ever between them. So far back as 
 1801 (17th March), Jeffrey, writing to Campbell, 
 who had arranged a journey with Richardson to 
 Germany, says — "Among other things, I envy you 
 not a little for your companion. I do not know any 
 man with whom a constant and intimate society 
 would be so pleasing. He has a gentleness of cha- 
 racter that must soften vexation, and make fretful- 
 ness ashamed; and he is the only person I have 
 ever met with who had all the enthusiasm and sim- 
 plicity of the romantic character, without one shade 
 either of its pedantry or its ridicule." 
 
 The Whigs were in office from the end of ISO")
 
 WHIGS IX OFFICE. 1 71 
 
 to April 1807. But deeply as Jeffrey reverenced 
 their principles, and powerfully as he ever main- 
 tained their cause, this gleam of their success made 
 no change in his position, and, except on public 
 grounds, seems not to have interested his thoughts. 
 He joined the people of Scotland in the few and 
 slight efforts for their political elevation which they 
 could then make. But the local managers of the 
 Government had an inadequate idea of his import- 
 ance ; and his relations to them were not improved 
 by an article which had appeared in the Review 
 (No. 8, art. 8) on a work on political economy by the 
 Earl of Lauderdale, and had given mortal offence to 
 the noble author, who acted as the Scotch minister; 
 which offence had not been assuaged by certain 
 pamphlets on both sides, by which the criticism had 
 been succeeded. 
 
 In summer of 1806 he revisited London with 
 Mr. Thomson and Mr. Murray. The 16th number 
 of the Eeview had been published shortly before. 
 It contained an article which produced a temporary 
 difference between him and Moore. It was a criti- 
 cism by Jeffrey on Moore's u Epistles, Odes, and 
 other Poems,'' and contained as severe a condemna- 
 tion of these productions, on the ground of their 
 immorality, as the English language, even when 
 wielded by Jeffrey, could express. The critic, of 
 course, was to he supposed to have been only dis- 
 cussing the hook ; but there was a cordiality, and a 
 personal application, in the censure, which made it 
 natural for the public, and nearly irresistible for the
 
 172 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 author, to refer it to the man. This (no matter 
 through what details) led to a hostile meeting near 
 London on the 11th of August 1806, when Horner 
 acted as Jeffrey's friend. The police, fortunately, 
 had discovered what was intended, and suddenly 
 apprehended the parties when they were in the very 
 act of proceeding to the very last extremity. Being 
 bound over to keep the peace in this country, they 
 were very nearly going over to Hamburgh ; but a 
 little explanation made this unnecessary. Mr. 
 Moore withdrew a defiance which he had given on 
 the idea that the imputations were personal; on 
 which Jeffrey declared that he had meant them to 
 be only literary ; and the quarrel was ended. The 
 following is Jeffrey's account of the matter to George 
 Joseph Bell (22d August 1800) :- 
 
 " I am happy to inform you that the business is 
 at length amicably settled. Moore agreed to with- 
 draw his defiance ; and then I had no hesitation in 
 assuring him (as I was ready to have done at the 
 beginning, if lie had applied amicably) that in writ- 
 ing the review I considered myself merely as the 
 censor of the morality of his book, and that 1 in- 
 tended to assert nothing as to the personal motives 
 
 * On reaching the police office it was found that Jeffrey's 
 pistol contained no bullet then; cither because it must have 
 dropped mil when the officer snatched it from him, <>r afterwards in 
 the officer's hands. Mr. Moore's bullel was still in his pistol, and 
 Mr. Borner was certain thai one had been put into Jeffrey's. Yet 
 Byron though! it worth while, hit only under the ferocity of the 
 
 English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, to si r at " Little's leadless 
 
 pistol." Little's, moreover, being the one thai was m'l leadless.
 
 AFFAIR WITH MOORE. 1 (3 
 
 or personal character of the author, of whom I had 
 no knowledge at the time. Those, I think, are the 
 words of my explanation. We have since break- 
 fasted together very lovingly. He has professed 
 his penitence for what he has written, and declared 
 that he will never again apply any little talent he 
 may possess, to such purposes ; and I have said, that 
 I shall be happy to praise him whenever I find that 
 he has abjured those objectionable topics. You are 
 too severe upon the little man. He has behaved 
 with great spirit throughout this business. He 
 really is not profligate, and is universally regarded, 
 even by those who resent the style of his poetry, as 
 an innocent, good-hearted, idle fellow. If he comes 
 to Scotland, as he talks of doing in November, I 
 hope you will not refuse to sit down with him at my 
 table. We were very near going to Hamburgh after 
 we had been bound over here ; but it is much better 
 as it is. I am glad to have gone through this scene, 
 both because it satisfies me, that my nerves are good 
 enough to enable me to act in conformity to my 
 notions of propriety without any suffering, and be- 
 cause it also assures me that I am really as little in 
 love with life, as I have been for some time in the 
 habit of professing." 
 
 The sincerity of this last sentiment was con- 
 firmed by Mr. Horner, who told Sir Charles Bell 
 that, with all his "admiration of Jeffrey's intrepidity, 
 lie feared there was much indifference of life." — 
 (Note by Bell at the time). In a day or two the 
 critic and the criticised met amicably, and were
 
 174 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 friends ever after. Jeffrey did not merely admire 
 the genius of his adversary, hut, after he knew him, 
 had a sincere affection and respect for the man. 
 Moore delights to tell, in one of his prefaces, that 
 " in the most formidable of all my censors, the great 
 master of criticism in our day, I have found since 
 one of the most cordial of all my friends." He 
 came to Scotland chiefly to visit Jeffrey, in 1825 ; 
 and was asked so often to sing his last new song, 
 " Ship, ahoy," that in another preface, he says that 
 — u the upland echoes of Craigcrook ought long to 
 have had its burden by heart." 
 
 After this affair, leaving Thomson in the British 
 Museum, Jeffrey went with Horner and Murray, 
 and visited the southern coast of England. This 
 was one of his many journeys for scenery alone. 
 They were more frequent with him than is usual 
 with busy men, and he was never satiated by re- 
 visiting places, which, though their novelty was 
 gone, were hallowed by beauty in his imagination. 
 He walked, when very young, with his friend Dr. 
 Maton, through the then solitary valleys of Wales. 
 Many a time did he and Morehead explore the lakes 
 and the mountains of Scotland; and there was as 
 much of the genuine enjoyment of nature, as much 
 affection and speculation, and as many fresh-made 
 sonnets, in one of their foot and knapsack expedi- 
 tions, as in some journeys of greater pretension. 
 This sensibility to the attractions of nature trans- 
 pires in all his writings* The very reverse of this 
 quality was sometimes imputed to him by those
 
 SOUTH OF ENGLAND. 1 7"> 
 
 who had an interest in depreciating his judgments. 
 Knowing that he was a lawyer and a critic, hard 
 trades, they thought that they could never be far 
 wrong in asserting that lie had neither romance nor 
 heart for nature. It is possible that out of his 
 masses of critical disquisition, especially in the dis- 
 putable regions of poetry, angry authors, and even 
 persons in a less partial position, might be able to 
 select passages indicating what they may plausibly 
 represent as a cold or artificial taste. But these 
 blots, if they exist, of which I am not aware, 
 are very few, and entirely accidental ; and are ex- 
 tinguished by countless examples of an opposite 
 description, and by the general character of his 
 writings. 
 
 He seems to have expected solitude in the south 
 of England in autumn ; and of course was tormented 
 everywhere by the outpourings of London. " For 
 my own part, I think it a great annoyance, and am a 
 thousand times better pleased with pacing alone on 
 the lovely sands, than in renewing a London life, in 
 small hot apartments, and listening to the eternal 
 sophistications of indolent coquetry and languid 
 derision." " I am every hour more convinced of 
 the error of those who look for happiness in any- 
 thing but concentered and tranquil affection ; and 
 the still more miserable error of those who think to 
 lessen the stupidity of a heartless existence, by a 
 laborious course of amusements, and by substitut- 
 ing the gratification of a restless vanity for the ex- 
 ercise of the heart and understanding. If I were
 
 170 LIFE OF LOUD JEFFREY. 
 
 to live a hundred years in London, I should never 
 be seduced into that delusion. So you will not tell 
 me what bracelets you would like, say at least 
 whether you mean clasps, or bracelets." — (To Mrs. 
 Morehead from Bognor Bocks, 25th August 1806). 
 
 He tried to escape, and crossed to the Isle of 
 Wight, but found the same thing there. " I am 
 glad (to Mr. Morehead, 28th August 1806) to have 
 seen these people, and some of them I should like 
 to see again, but I could not live among them. 
 That eternal breaking of time and affection, by liv- 
 ing in a crowd, and attending to a thousand things 
 together, would never suit my notions of happiness 
 or respectability. I languish perpetually for the 
 repose and tranquillity of rational and domestic 
 society ; the quietness of the heart, and the activity 
 of the imagination only. You have found this, my 
 dear Bob, and I have lost it for ever." 
 
 The only purely Scotch measure that the Whig 
 Government introduced was one for the improve- 
 ment of the administration of justice ; being the 
 commencement of that succession of organic judi- 
 cial changes which has gone on almost ever since. 
 Most of the younger Whig lawyers opposed the 
 more important parts of the scheme patronised by 
 their Whig seniors, as unwise in principle, and un- 
 suited to the condition and wants of Scotland. The 
 party lost its power before its object could be ac- 
 complished, and a more moderate measure was soon 
 carried by its successors. The juniors were chiefly 
 guided throughoul all these discussions by Jeffrey ;
 
 scotch JUDICIAL CHANGES. 177 
 
 who, besides taking a lead in the meetings of the 
 Faculty, wrote a paper in the Review (No. 18, article 
 14), which, though Horner calls it " clever, sceptical, 
 and flippant" (Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 10), was not only 
 amusing, but sound. It suggested considerations, 
 questioned principles, and tended to abate legal 
 bigotries. His opposition, and that of his followers, 
 was honourable to them, because what they chiefly 
 objected to, was, the introduction of two or three 
 high judicial offices, which were notoriously in- 
 tended for their own political friends, while better 
 men of the opposite party, such as Blair, who was 
 at the head of the bar, were to be set aside. 
 
 Mr. John Allen seems to have remonstrated with 
 Jeffrey on his opposition ; to which Jeffrey answers 
 (17th March 1807)— " What is thought of the bill 
 now ? and what is thought of us, and of our virtue? 
 I am myself most anxious for reform and for great 
 change ; but I cannot dissemble my suspicions of 
 jobbism. It is nonsense to say that this kind of 
 opposition endangers the whole measure. It is in- 
 finitely more endangered by the doings to which 
 we are opposed. I shall believe that the supporters 
 of the scheme are seriously persuaded of the utility 
 of a Scottish Chancellor and Court of Review, when 
 I hear that they are to offer it to Blair, who is best 
 entitled to it. At the same time, you know that I 
 love the Whigs, and it grieves me to see that they 
 will act like placemen." 
 
 The material step of reconstructing the court, 
 by dividing it into two chambers, was soon effected 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 by the new Government ; and, to the delight of all 
 fair and reasonable people, Eobert Blair was raised 
 to the Presidency of the whole. But, alas ! in two 
 years he — one of the most upright of men, and, 
 from the pure weight of his character, one of the 
 best liked of strict and dignified judges — was fol- 
 lowed to the grave by the sorrow of all Edinburgh. 
 . Jeffrey was now on very good terms with all 
 the judges ; but the one as yet on the bench with 
 whom he was most on habits of personal intercourse, 
 was Allan Maconochie, Lord Meadowbank ; a person 
 of very considerable learning, of singular ingenuity, 
 and of restless mental activity. Nothing (except 
 perhaps mathematics) came amiss to him ; but, be- 
 sides literature and metaphysics, his favourite sub- 
 jects used to rise out of any views connected with 
 the theoretical history of man and his progress, 
 which, being inextricably involved in speculation, 
 had peculiar attractions both for him and for Jeffrey. 
 He was a very able judge ; full of varied knowledge, 
 and ready at all times for an argument, with any 
 body, upon anything. The prospect of meeting 
 witli this powerful and entertaining intellect was 
 always a temptation to Jeffrey to take a case on the 
 criminal circuit ; and although he sometimes thought 
 my lord more ingenious than sound in court, this 
 only whetted the evening discussion, where the one 
 was as good as the other. There are several such 
 incidents as this in his letters, and always with the 
 same term lor the judge's supposed error — " I had 
 my trial next day, where I made a merry speech,
 
 DEATH OF HIS BROTHERS WIFE. 17!) 
 
 and was defeated on a crotchet of Meadowbank's. I 
 went with William Erskine, who came out to oppose 
 me, to the ball in the evening; but there were only 
 six ladies and no beauties, so I did not stay long, 
 but came home and discussed with Meadowbank." 
 His Lordship died in 1816. 
 
 The brothers were reduced to a melancholy simi- 
 larity of fate by the death of John's wife at Boston 
 in 1806. Francis gave him such consolation and 
 advice as his own experience supplied. " Come, 
 then, my dear John, as soon as you can desert your 
 present duties — come, and find me as affectionate, 
 and unreserved, and domestic, as you knew me in 
 our more careless days. I think I shall be able to 
 comfort you, and revive in you some little interest 
 in life ; though I cannot undertake to restore that 
 happiness, which, when once cut down, revives not 
 in this world." — " I hope that, even at present, you 
 do not indulge in solitude. 1 never had courage 
 for it, and was driven by a cruel instinct into the 
 company of strangers." — (28th January 1807.) This 
 blow could not sink deeper into John than it had 
 done into Francis ; but he was graver and idler, 
 and its effects continued longer. 
 
 His practice which was always advancing, in- 
 cluded the whole of our courts, civil, criminal, and 
 even ecclesiastical, the most fee-less of them all. It 
 was in May 1807, that I first encountered him in 
 the General Assembly, where for the next twenty 
 years, he had an unchallenged monopoly on one 
 side. A seat, as a member in that house, the only
 
 180 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 established popular assembly then in Scotland, was 
 a common ambition with such lawyers, whether at 
 the bar or on the bench, as were anxious about a 
 certain description of party affairs, and had no 
 aversion to opportunities of display. It was often 
 wondered how Jeffrey could resist being a member. 
 But he was indifferent about its ordinary business, 
 and thought that the possession of its bar, though 
 its emoluments were scarcely visible, improved his 
 general professional position. He was always in- 
 terested, moreover, in that singular place. 
 
 It is a sort of Presbyterian convocation, which 
 meets, along with a commissioner representing the 
 Crown, for about twelve days yearly. It consists of 
 about 200 clergymen, and about 150 lay elders, pre- 
 sided over by a reverend president, called the Mode- 
 rator, who is elected by the Assembly annually, and 
 very seldom more than once. Its jurisdiction is both 
 judicial and legislative. As an ecclesiastical parlia- 
 ment, it exercises, subject to very ill defined limita- 
 tions, a censorian and corrective authority over all 
 Hie evils, and all affairs, of the cliureli. As a court, 
 it deals out what appears to it to be justice upon all 
 ecclesiastical delinquencies and disputes. Its sub- 
 stance survives, but, in its air and tone, it has every 
 year been degrading more and more into the like- 
 ness of common things ; till at last the primitive 
 features which, half a century ago, distinguished it 
 from every other meeting of men in this country, 
 have greatly faded. Yet how picturesque it still is ! 
 The royal commissioner and his attendants, all stiff,
 
 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 181 
 
 brilliant, and grotesque, in court attire. The mem- 
 bers gathered from every part of the country, — 
 from growing cities, lonely glens, distant islands, 
 agricultural districts, universities, and fallen burghs ; 
 — the varieties of dialect and tone, uncorrupted fifty 
 years ago by English ; — the kindly greetings ; — the 
 social arrangements ; — the party plots ; — the strange- 
 ness of the subjects; — partly theological, partly ju- 
 dicial, partly political, often all mixed; — of the 
 deepest apparent importance to the house, however 
 insignificant or incomprehensible to others ; — the 
 awkwardness of their forms, and the irregularity of 
 their application ; — their ignorance of business ; — the 
 conscientious intolerance of the rival sects; — the 
 helplessness, when the storm of disorder arises, of 
 the poor shortlived inexperienced moderator ; — the 
 mixture of clergy and laity, of nobility and com- 
 moners, civilians and soldiers ; — the curious efforts 
 of oratory ; — the ready laughter, even among the 
 grim; — and consequently the easy jokes. Higher 
 associations arise when we think of the venerable 
 age of the institution ; the noble struggles in 
 which it has been engaged ; the extensive useful- 
 ness of which it is capable ; and the eminent men 
 and the great eloquence it has frequently brought 
 out ; including, in modern times, the dignified 
 persuasiveness of Principal Robertson, the graceful 
 plausibility of Dr. George Hill, the Principal's suc- 
 cessor as the leader of the church's majority, the 
 manly energy of Sir Harry Moncrieff, and the burning 
 oratory of Chalmers. Connecting every jurisdic-
 
 182 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 tion, and every member of the church (which then 
 meant the people), into one body, it was calculated 
 to secure the benefits, without the dangers, of an 
 official superintendence of morals and religion ; and 
 to do, in a more open and responsible way, for the 
 Church of Scotland, what is done, or not done, by 
 the bishops for the Church of England. Such a 
 senate might have continued to direct and control 
 the cheapest, the most popular, and the most re- 
 publican, established church in the world. Its 
 essential defect is as a court of justice. Nothing 
 can ever make a mob of 300 people a safe tribunal 
 for the decision of private causes; and the Assembly's 
 forms are framed as if the object were to aggravate 
 the evil. 
 
 It met in those days, as it had done for about 
 two hundred years, in one of the aisles of the then 
 grey and venerable cathedral of St. Giles. That 
 plain, square, galleried, apartment was admirably 
 suited for the purpose ; the more so that it was not 
 too large ; and it was more interesting, from the men 
 who had acted in it, and the scenes it had witnessed, 
 than any other existing room in Scotland. It had 
 beheld the best exertions of the best men in the 
 kingdom, ever since the year 1040. Yet was it 
 obliterated in the year 1830, with as much indiffer- 
 ence as if it bad been of yesterday; and for no 
 reason except a childish desire for new walls and 
 change. The Assembly sat therefor the last time in 
 May L829; and it has never been the Assembly since. 
 
 Its bar, though beneath him, had several attrac- 

 
 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 183 
 
 tions for Jeffrey. It needed no legal learning, and 
 no labour beyond attendance ; but always required 
 judgment and management ; it presented excellent 
 opportunities for speaking, especially as the two 
 inconvenient checks of relevancy and pertinency 
 were seldom in rigid observance ; and it was the 
 most popular of all our established audiences. He 
 constantly treated them to admirable speeches, — 
 argumentative, declamatory, or humorous, as the 
 occasion might require. Accordingly, he was a pro- 
 digious favourite. They felt honoured by a person 
 of his eminence practising before them ; and their 
 liking for the individual, with his constant liberality 
 and candour, was still stronger than their admira- 
 tion of his talents, and even their detestation of his 
 politics. It was thought a dull day when he was 
 not there. And when there, he could say and do 
 whatever he chose ; but never risked his popu- 
 larity by carelessness or presumption 5 and never 
 once descended to the vulgarity of pleasing, by any- 
 thing unbecoming a counsel of the highest cha- 
 racter, and the best taste. He was once in some 
 danger, when, in defending a clerical client against 
 a charge of drunkenness, he first contested the evi- 
 dence, and then assuming it to be sufficient, tried 
 to extenuate the offence ; and among other considera- 
 tions, asked, " If there ivas a single reverend gentleman 
 in the house it'ho could lay his hand on his heart, and 
 say that he had never been overtaken by the same in- 
 firmity?" There was an instant roar of order, 
 apology, rebuke, &c. Bur he subdued them at
 
 184 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 once, by standing till they were quiet, and then 
 saying, with a half innocent, half cunning, air, — u I 
 beg your pardon, moderator, — it was entirely my igno- 
 rance of the habits of the Church;" and the offence was 
 forgiven in a general laugh. 
 
 It was in the assembly, or in connection with 
 its business, that he first became acquainted with 
 his future friend, the late Rev. Sir Harry Moncrieff, 
 Bart. ; whom it is the more necessary to mention, be- 
 cause there was no one who had a greater influence 
 over Jeffrey's conduct and opinions, particularly in 
 relation to Scotch matters. 
 
 This eminent person was not merely distinguished 
 among his brethren of the Church of Scotland, all 
 of whom leant upon him, but was in other respects 
 one of the most remarkable and admirable men 
 of his age. Small grey eyes, an acquiline nose, 
 vigorous lips, a noble head, and the air of a plain 
 hereditary gentleman, marked the outward man. 
 The prominent qualities of his mind were, strong 
 integrity and nervous sense. There never was a 
 sounder understanding. Many men were more 
 learned, many more cultivated, and some more 
 able. But who could match him in sagacity and 
 mental force? The opinions of Sir Harry Moncrieff 
 might at any time have been adopted with perfect 
 safety, without knowing more about them than that 
 they were his. And he was so experienced in the 
 conduct of affairs, that he had acquired a power of 
 forming his views with what seemed to be instinctive 
 acuteness, and with a decisiveness which raised
 
 SIR BENRY MONCRIEFF. 185 
 
 them above being slightly questioned. Nor was it 
 the unerring judgment alone that the public ad- 
 mired. It venerated the honourable heart still 
 more. A thorough gentleman in his feelings, and 
 immoveablv honest in his principles, his whole cha- 
 racter was elevated into moral majesty. He was 
 sometimes described as overbearing. And in one 
 sense, to the amusement of his friends, perhaps, he 
 was so. Consulted by everybody, and of course 
 provoked by many, and with very undisciplined 
 followers to lead, his superiority gave him the usual 
 confidence of an oracle; and this, operating on a 
 little natural dogmatism, made him sometimes seem 
 positive, and even hard ; an impression strengthened 
 by his manner. With a peremptory conclusiveness, 
 a shrill defying voice, and a firm concentrated air, 
 he appeared far more absolute than he really was, 
 for he was ever candid and reasonable. But his 
 real gentleness was often not seen ; for if his first 
 clear exposition did not convince, he was not unapt 
 to take up a short disdainful refutation ; which, 
 however entertaining to the spectator, was not 
 always comfortable to the adversary. But all this 
 was mere manner. His opinions were uniformly libe- 
 ral and charitable, and, when not under the actual 
 excitement of indignation at wickedness or danger- 
 ous folly, his feelings were mild and benignant; 
 and he liberalised his mind by that respectable in- 
 tercourse with society which improves the good 
 clergyman, and the rational man of the world. 
 
 I was once walking with him in Oueen Street.
 
 180 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 within the last three years of his life. A per- 
 son approached who had long been an illiberal op- 
 ponent of his, and for whom I understood that he 
 had no great regard. I expected them to pass 
 without recognition on either side. But instead 
 of this, Sir Harry, apparently to the man's own 
 surprise, stopped, and took him by the hand, and 
 spoke kindly to him. When they separated, 1 said 
 to Sir Harry that I thought he had not liked that 
 person. u Oh ! No. He's a foolish, intemperate, 
 creature. But to tell you the truth, I dislike a man 
 fewer every day that I live now." When the Whigs 
 were in office in 1806, one of his ecclesiastical 
 adversaries, after having always opposed Catholic 
 emancipation, wrote to him that if the subject should 
 be renewed in the next assembly, he would now 
 support it. It was renewed, but by that time the 
 Whigs were displaced ; and that very person op- 
 posed it, and among other things had the audacity 
 to say that he could not comprehend how any Pro- 
 testant clergyman could encourage Popery. Sir 
 Harry was in great indignation, and told me him- 
 self that, when answering this, he put his hand into 
 his pocket, and was on the very point of crushing 
 his wavering friend by producing and reading his 
 own letter, but that when I looked at - -s face 
 and saio his wretchedness^ I had not the heart to do it" 
 These were nol the feelings of a hard man. 
 
 His great instrument of usefulness was his 
 public speaking; the style of which may be inferred 
 from thai of his intellect and manner. In the
 
 si!; BENRY MONCRIEFF. L87 
 
 pulpit, whore he was elevated above worldly dis- 
 cord, he often rose into great views and powerful 
 declamation; and he was the noblest deliverer of 
 prayers at striking- funerals. But though these pro- 
 fessional exertions showed his powers, it was chiefly 
 in the contests of men that his speaking was ex- 
 erted, and was generally known. On such occasions 
 it was so utterly devoid of ornament, that out of 
 forty years of debate, it would be difficult to cull 
 one sentence of rhetoric. And though very elo- 
 quent, he was never disturbed by the consciousness 
 or the ambition of being so. It was never the 
 eloquence of words, or of sentiments, conceived 
 for effect, but of a high-minded practical man, 
 earnestly impressed with the importance of a prac- 
 tical subject; and who, thinking of his matter alone, 
 dealt in luminous and powerful reasoning ; his views 
 clearly conceived, and stated with simplicity and 
 assuredness. A fearful man to grapple with. 
 
 His writing, though respectable, was feeble, at 
 least to those who knew the energy of his speak- 
 ing language and maimer. The life of Dr. John 
 Erskine was one of the very best subjects for Scotch 
 biography of the last age; and he has not made 
 the most of it. Except in very short writings, on 
 
 * Then- was really great justice in the remark of a little old 
 north country minister, who, proud both of himself as a member, 
 and of the Reverend Baronel who was predominating in the assem- 
 bly, said to his neighbour, "Preserve me, Sir! hoo thai man Sir 
 Harry docs go on! //< puts me in mind <,' Jupiter among the 
 /• ssei" gods?
 
 188 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 subjects of instant and practical importance, his 
 vigour did not get into his pen. 
 
 As almost all our living's belong 1 to the crown or 
 landowners, there could be little political independ- 
 ence in the church in his day. This made his merit 
 the greater in being a conspicuous and constant 
 Whig. He very seldom mingled in the secular 
 proceedings of the party, but his opinions were well 
 known, and had great influence with the people, 
 to whom his mere name was a tower of strength. 
 Had he not preferred his church to every other 
 object, there was no public honour to which he 
 might not have fought his way. He would have 
 been a powerful counsel of the highest class, an 
 admirable judge, a first-rate head of any important 
 public department, and a great parliamentary leader. 
 His conversation was excellent ; spirited, intelligent, 
 and natural ; and never better than when his solid 
 understanding was tried against the speculative play- 
 fulness of Jeffrey. They were cordial friends, and 
 Jeffrey delighted especially to visit him, when in 
 bis country gentleman condition, in his feudal tower 
 of Tulliebole. 
 
 The Review had now gone on above six years, 
 and its periodical appearance was looked for as 
 that of the great exponent of what people should 
 think on matters of taste and policy. No British 
 journal bad ever held such sway over the public 
 mind. Nor bad any one ever approached it in 
 extent of circulation. Jeffrey's own contribu- 
 tions already amounted to seventy-nine articles.
 
 RISE OF THE QUARTERLY REVIEW, L89 
 
 furnished to the twenty-six numbers that had been 
 published ; being on an average above one article 
 every month. This was in addition to the vexa- 
 tious labour of the editorship, and while struggling 
 to encourage his professional practice, and amidst 
 the distress of Mrs. Jeffrey's death, and a nearly 
 constant immersion in society. Nor had he made 
 his task easier by restricting it to a single depart- 
 ment, or to few. Among these papers are profound 
 and original disquisitions on many of the most diffi- 
 cult subjects, including metaphysics, politics, bio- 
 graphy, morals, poetry, travels, political economy, 
 and some physical science. His whole opinions 
 and tastes were evolved in these articles. 
 
 The journal was thus advancing with unex- 
 ampled and unchecked success, when, in February 
 1809, the Quarterly appeared. This was an era in 
 the history both of the Edinburgh and of its con- 
 ductor. The Quarterly was his first, and indeed 
 throughout the whole of his editorship, his only, 
 formidable rival. It withdrew Scott from his alle- 
 giance to the original work • and it established a 
 receptacle for the contributions of those, against 
 whom, from its opinions, the Edinburgh Review 
 was closed. 
 
 It used to be said that the new journal was 
 an unwilling result of the dangerous principles 
 of the previous one, chiefly on the war, and on do- 
 mestic reform. Its various other offences might 
 have been forgiven ; but, engaged as we were in a 
 struggle for existence, there could bo no toleration
 
 190 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 for a work which eagerly obstructed government by 
 inflaming discontent at home, and encouraged our 
 foreign enemy, and dispirited the people, by perpe- 
 tual demonstrations of the impossibility of our suc- 
 ceeding in the vital conflict. The provocation given 
 by years of this misconduct was said to have been so 
 aggravated by an article published in October 1808, 
 on an account given by Don Pedro Cevallos of the 
 French usurpations in Spain, that neither patience 
 nor friendship could endure it longer ; and that, 
 therefore, the incorrigible journal was debarred, as 
 it occasionally had been before (but always to the 
 increase of its circulation), from the houses of some 
 of its usual readers, and a work on more patriotic 
 principles was resolved on. Mr. Jeffrey, it is 
 added, had been warned of the consequence of his 
 rashness, and was himself so sensible of improprie- 
 ties to which he had at least been accessory, that he 
 had actually engaged to Sir Walter Scott " that no 
 party politics should appeal 1 again in his Review." — (Let- 
 ter from Scott to George Ellis, Dec. 1808, in Lock- 
 hart's Life of Scott, vol. ii. p. 210.) 
 
 There is some truth in all this, and much error. 
 
 The statement by Sir Walter implies so serious 
 
 * The late Earl of Buchan, not a stupid, but a very vain 
 and foolish, man, made the door of his house in George Street be 
 opened, and the Cevallos' number be laid down on the innermost 
 pari of the floor of hifl lobby; and then, after all this preparation, 
 
 his Lordship, personally, kicked the book out to the centre of the 
 street, where he Left it to be trodden into the mud; which he had 
 no doubt must be the fate of the whole work — after this open proof 
 of his high disapprobation.
 
 RISE OF THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. 11)1 
 
 a charge, that the moment it appeared several of 
 Jeffrey's friends advised him to contradict it, if it 
 was incorrect. But he thought that the idea of his 
 having engaged, after party polities had been the 
 right leg of the Eeview for above six years, that 
 there should be no more party politics in it, and 
 then continuing to put as much of them into it as 
 ever, was so strange that no body could fail to as- 
 cribe it to mistake ; and, therefore, he allowed it to 
 remain unanswered for seven years. But when he 
 was writing the preface to the publication of his 
 Selected Contributions, in the end of 1843, he 
 thought that a natural opportunity of noticing it 
 had occurred ; and he made a very graceful, and, 
 towards Scott, a handsome explanation. Its sub- 
 stance is that Sir Walter must have misunderstood 
 him; probably by mistaking a general expression 
 of a desire to avoid violent politics, for a pledge to 
 avoid all politics ; or must have afterwards ex- 
 pressed himself inaccurately in a hasty and familiar 
 letter. There is no one who considers what the 
 Review had been, and what it continued to be, and 
 what Jeffrey's character was, to whom this expla- 
 nation will not be satisfactory. 
 
 The article on Cevallos has been often ascribed 
 to a different person ; but it was written by Jeffrey. 
 It raised a great outcry, which, however, was not 
 owing to any particular guilt in that paper; for it 
 is not worse than many that had gone before it ; 
 but it happened to be ill-timed. It dared to despair 
 of what was then called the regeneration of Spain :
 
 192 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 and this at the very moment when most people's 
 hearts were agitated with delight in the belief that 
 this glorious change had already begun, and that 
 the Peninsula was henceforth to be inhabited by a 
 population of patriots. No one who doubted this 
 could then be endured. But it was not this solitary 
 article, however detestable, that produced the rival 
 journal. The only wonder is, how it was not pro- 
 duced sooner. With the principles of the popular 
 party so powerfully maintained in one publication, 
 it was impossible that the principles of the opposite 
 party could remain undefended by another. Had 
 Don Pedro Cevallos never appeared, and had the 
 subordinate indiscretions of the existing Review been 
 all avoided, and had even its political matter been 
 diluted down to insignificance, still, unless its 
 public tone and doctrines had been positively re- 
 versed, or party politics altogether excluded, a 
 periodical work in defence of Church, Tory, and War 
 principles, must have arisen ; simply because the 
 defence of these principles required it. The defence 
 was a consequence of the attack. And it is fortu- 
 nate that it was so. For besides getting these opi- 
 nions fairly discussed, the party excesses natural to 
 any unchecked publication were diminished; and a 
 work arose which, in many respects, is an honour to 
 British Literature, and has called out, and indirectly 
 reared, a great variety of the highest order of talent. 
 Jeffrey's feelings on seeing the first number of 
 his rival, were these, — ■" I have seen the Quarterly 
 this morning. It is an inspired work, compared
 
 POLITICAL OPINIONS. L93 
 
 with the poor prattle of Cumberland. But I do not 
 think it very formidable ; and if it were not for our 
 offences, I should have no fear about its conse- 
 quences." u Tell me what you hear, and what you 
 think of this new Quarterly; and do not let your- 
 self imagine that I feel any unworthy jealousy, and 
 still less any unworthy fear, on the occasion. My 
 natural indolence would have been better pleased 
 not to be always in sight of an alert and keen anta- 
 gonist. But I do rejoice at the prospect of this 
 kind of literature, which seems to be more and 
 more attended to than any other, being generally 
 improved in quality, and shall be proud to have set 
 an example."— (To Horner, 4th March 1809.) 
 
 The favourite imputation, that the politics of the 
 Edinburgh Review were all merely intended to faci- 
 litate the return of the Whigs to power, in so far as 
 it was meant to impute dishonesty or factiousness to 
 its conductor, are amply refuted by the knowledge 
 of all his friends of his disinterested sincerity, and 
 of the fact that on many occasions he gave great 
 offence, when he thought it his duty to do so, to his 
 own party. Upon the two great points of the war, 
 and of that Whiggism which urged the due cultiva- 
 tion of the people, he has recorded his conviction 
 of the hopelessness of the one, and the necessity of 
 the other, in one or two of his letters. 
 
 " I must say that a temperate, firm, and en- 
 lightened article on Spain, would, of all other things, 
 be the most serviceable and restorative to us at this 
 crisis. T cannot indeed comprehend your grounds 
 
 Vol.. r. o
 
 194 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 of hope. But the public will ; and I am willing 
 enough to be enlightened. At all events, something 
 gravely and soberly said upon this topic would be 
 quite medicinal in this stage of the malady. I am 
 really anxious to see some grounds of comfort for 
 my own sake. For my honest impression is, that 
 Bonaparte will be in Dublin in about fifteen months ; 
 perhaps sooner. And then if I survive, I shall try 
 to go to America. I hate despotism and insolence 
 so much, that I could bear a great deal rather than 
 live here under Frenchmen, and such wretches as 
 will at first be employed by them." — (To Horner, 
 29th December 1808.) 
 
 u I still hanker after peace, chiefly I own out of 
 fear, and out of despair; not very noble motives 
 either of them, but pretty powerful, and well calcu- 
 lated to have weight with the prudent. I do in my 
 heart think that we are in very considerable danger 
 of losing Ireland within eighteen months : and then 
 how is England to be kept ? Or would it be worth 
 keeping, by the present generation, at the expense 
 of all the bloodshed, and treachery, and guilt, and 
 misery, which the struggle would produce ? Then, 
 as to foreign affairs, I own I make up my mind to 
 see every thing subdued by France on the Continent ; 
 and therefore I do not agree with you that any new 
 usurpation or plans of conquest there, should be 
 allowed to break a peace once concluded with 
 England. Indeed, our interference is likely enough 
 to exasperate and accelerate, and afford a sort of 
 apology in future, as it has done in past times. The
 
 POLITICAL OPINIONS. 195 
 
 beneficial chances of peace are obvious • and I would 
 rather take them, with all the hazards, than persist 
 in our present downward course." — (To Homer, 
 25th January 1811.) 
 
 Then, as to home politics, his opinions were in 
 substance just those of the Whig party ; but with 
 this material qualification, that he was one of those 
 who always thought that even the Whigs were dis- 
 posed to govern too much through the influence of 
 the aristocracy, and through a few great aristo- 
 cratical families, without making the people a 
 direct political element. He stated this view in the 
 following letter to Mr. Horner, 26th October, 1809. 
 " In the main, I think our opinions do not differ 
 very widely ; and, in substance and reality, you seem 
 to me to admit all that I used to contend with you 
 about. In the first place, you admit now that there 
 is a spirit of discontent, or disaffection if you choose 
 to call it so, among the people, which must be 
 managed and allayed, in some way or other, if we 
 wish to preserve tranquillity. And, in the next 
 place, you admit that the leading Whigs belong to 
 the aristocracy, and have been obliged to govern 
 themselves a great deal by the necessity of managing 
 this aristocracy. Now, all I say is, that there is a 
 radical contest and growing struggle between the 
 aristocracy and democracy of this country ; and 
 agreeing entirely with you, that its freedom must 
 depend in a good measure on their coalition, I still 
 think that the aristocracy is the weakest, and ought 
 to give way, and that the blame of the catastrophe
 
 196 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 will be heaviest on those who provoke a rupture by 
 maintaining its pretensions. When I said I had no 
 confidence in Lord Grey or Grenville, I meant no 
 more than that I thought them too aristocratical, 
 and, consequently, likely to be inefficient. They 
 will never be trusted by the Court, nor cordial with 
 the Tories ; and, I fear, unless they think less of the 
 aristocracy and its interests and prerogatives, they 
 will every day have less influence with the people. 
 
 " I have no doubt of their individual honour and 
 integrity, and am disposed to think highly of their 
 talents. You ask too much of the people, when you 
 ask them to have great indulgence for the ornaments 
 and weaknesses of refined life. You should consider 
 what a burdensome thing Government has grown ; 
 and into what dangers and difficulties they have 
 been led by trusting implicitly to those refined rulers. 
 As long as they are suffering and angry, they will 
 have no indulgence for these things ; and every at- 
 tempt to justify or uphold them will be felt as an 
 insult. I still think our greatest immediate hazard 
 is from without. But I differ from you still more in 
 your opinion that we are more in danger of falling 
 under a military tyranny through the common course 
 of internal tumult and disorder, than of having our 
 present Government consolidated into something 
 a good deal like despotism without any stir. The 
 very same want of virtue which makes all popular 
 commotion likely to end in military tyranny, gives 
 reason to fear for the result of a passive obedience 
 on one hand, and bad, unprincipled measures, on
 
 POLITICAL OPINIONS. 107 
 
 the other. Unless something be done, or happen, 
 to conciliate, one or other of the parties will come 
 to act in a decided manner by and by. I own to 
 you, that with the Government in the hands of Wel- 
 lesleys and Melvilles, and with the feeling that 
 something vigorous must be hazarded, I should 
 rather expect to see the Habeas Corpus Act sus- 
 pended — Cobbett and the Edinburgh Review prose- 
 cuted — newspapers silenced — and all the common 
 harbingers of tyranny sent out, than to witness any 
 alarming symptoms of popular usurpation and vio- 
 lence. The same cause, however, promises to avert 
 both disasters. The people are both stronger, and 
 wiser, and more discontented, than those who are 
 not the people will believe. Let the true friends of 
 liberty and the constitution join with the people, 
 assist them to ask, with dignity and with order, all 
 that ought to be granted, and endeavour to withhold 
 them from asking more. But for both purposes let 
 them be gracious and cordial with them, and not by 
 distrust, and bullying, and terror, exasperate them, 
 and encourage the Court party to hazard a contest 
 that will be equally fatal, however it issue.* I 
 thank you very gratefully for all you promise to do 
 for the Review. I hope you will go a little beyond 
 the mere examination of the translation, and say 
 something still of Fox, or of the French, or of other 
 countries that could never produce such a character." 
 
 See a letter with the same views to Mr. Horner, in Homer's 
 Memoirs, ii. LO, and No. 30, art. 15, of the Review, where the 
 
 same view is taken, ami is expressed in the same spirit.
 
 198 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 In judging of this and all his writings, we must 
 remember the rule under which he cautioned Horner 
 that they must be read. (13th August 1809). — " I 
 have done a very long rambling thing on parlia- 
 mentary reform ; in which I think there are some 
 inaccuracies, and some positions you will think 
 false ; but I beg you to judge it, as I fear you must 
 judge all that I say or write, by the whole broad 
 effect and honest meaning, without keeping me to points 
 or phrases, or making me answer for exaggerations. 
 I wrote it while they were printing, and have no 
 anxiety except for your judgment, and that of about 
 three other persons." 
 
 These opinions may have been all unsound, and 
 consequently dangerous ; but there was surely no- 
 thing in them that could make any person of can- 
 dour impute what he may think the mischievous 
 doctrines of the Review to wickedness, on the part 
 of either its conductor or its contributors. 
 
 The number which had appeared in January 
 1808, contained the criticism on Lord Byron's Hours 
 of Idleness (No. 22, art. 2), which his Lordship 
 declares had inflamed him into " rage, resistance, 
 and redress." Accordingly, in March 1809, he ex- 
 ploded in his English Bards and Scotch Reviewers ; 
 which wastes its fiercest and most contemptuous 
 bitterness on Jeffrey, whom he believed to have been 
 the author of the offensive article. But he was 
 wrong in this opinion, for it was written by a differ- 
 ent person. It would be idle to answer any thing 
 contained in a satire which its author himself came
 
 JOHN CLERK. 199 
 
 to describe as a "ferocious rhapsody" and u a miser- 
 able record of misplaced anger and indiscriminate ac- 
 crimony." He afterwards did justice to Jeffrey, both 
 as a man and a critic, and even told the world of 
 him, — " you have acted on the whole most nobly" — 
 (Don Juan, 10, 1G). 
 
 In May 1810, he removed from Queen Street, 
 and went, after about ten years' residence in upper 
 floors, to a small house occupied entirely by him- 
 self, in No. 92 George Street, where he passed the 
 next seventeen years. 
 
 During the summer of 1810 he was very unwell ; 
 for which he roamed for nearly two months over 
 England and Wales. 
 
 In the spring of 1811 he was in London, and 
 saw more of its society than he had yet done. In 
 the autumn he took another journey to the north of 
 Scotland. 
 
 His professional employment was now widening 
 so steadily, as to make it evident that, if he per- 
 severed, the pinnacles of the law were not beyond 
 his reach. I wish it was possible for me to do 
 justice to the more eminent competitors with whom 
 he had the satisfaction and the honour to be en- 
 gaged. But they are too numerous, and, except 
 as lawyers, many of them are too unknown to be 
 generally interesting. There are three, however, of 
 his principal rivals who cannot be passed by. — 
 
 John Clerk, sun of Clerk of Eldin (a man whose 
 science and originality, whether he first propounded 
 the modern system of naval tactics or not, were far
 
 200 LIFE OF LOED JEFFREY. 
 
 above that idea) had been Solicitor-General under 
 the Whig Government of 1805 and 1806, and had 
 since risen into great practice. It is difficult to de- 
 scribe a person whose conditions in repose and in 
 action, that is, in his private and in his professional 
 life, almost amounted to the possession of two na- 
 tures. 
 
 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 peculiaritv 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 un- 
 like that of a thorough-bred 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, ex- 
 tending 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 steady friend, and of the 
 most touching affection in all the domestic relations. 
 The whole family was deeply marked by an here- 
 ditary 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 huimui race.
 
 JOHN CLERK. 20] 
 
 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 amusing, 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 contradic- 
 tion. This introduced the next stage, when confi- 
 dence in his own infallibility ascribed all opposition 
 to doubts of his possessing this quality, and thus 
 inflamed a spirit which, however serene when tor- 
 pid, was never trained to submission, and could ris< 
 into fierceness when chafed. 
 
 Of course it was chafed every moment ai the 
 bar; and accordingly it was there that his other
 
 202 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 and inferior nature appeared. Every consideration 
 was lost in eagerness for tlie 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 
 line. His whole session was one keen and truceless 
 conflict ; in which more irritating matter was intro- 
 duced 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 any thing 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
 
 .JOHN CLERK. 203 
 
 of eloquence would have done. Very unequal, no 
 distinguished counsel made so many bad appear- 
 ances. 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 dex- 
 terity and force. A number of admirable written 
 arguments, on profound legal difficulties, will sus- 
 tain 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 unfor- 
 tunately 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 phrenzies 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 him- 
 self, — and after indicating its approach by a mant- 
 ling 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, with- 
 drew the attention of strangers from the cases on
 
 204 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 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 by 
 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 horizontally 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. 
 
 Except in his profession, and as an ardent 
 partisan, he was little of a public character. Reso- 
 lute in his Whig principles, which he delighted to 
 shake in the face of his adversaries during the 
 fullness of their power, and entering hotly into all 
 the movements of his party, inexperience of public 
 management, and some impracticability, disquali- 
 fied him from originating measures, and occasion- 
 ally made him a little dangerous even as their de- 
 fender, hi these matters, indeed, his friends could 
 not have the confidence in his judgment, which 
 friends would have liked to have had in one so 
 upright, ;iiid with 80 muscular a mind 
 
 Jeffrey and he did excellent ly together; lor even
 
 JAMES MONCRIEFF. 205 
 
 in opposition, Jeffrey managed him better than mosl 
 other people could. He respected his worth and 
 talent ; and Avhenever Clerk exceeded his allowed 
 land pretty large) measure of provocation, no one 
 could so easily torment him in return, chiefly by the 
 levity with which Clerk's coarser blows were re- 
 ceived. 
 
 James Moncrieff, a son of Sir Harry, and worthy 
 of the name, was more remarkable for the force, 
 than for the variety, of his powers. His faculties, 
 naturally, could have raised and sustained him in 
 almost any practical sphere. But, from his very 
 outset, he devoted himself to the law as the great 
 object of his ambition. The politics of the Scotch 
 Whig party, and the affairs of that Presbyterian 
 Church which he revered, occupied much of his at- 
 tention throughout life; but even these were sub- 
 ordinate to the main end of rising, by hard work, 
 in his profession. 
 
 This restriction of his object had its necessary 
 consequences. Though excellently educated at 
 Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Oxford, he left himself 
 little leisure for literary culture ; and, while grounded 
 in the knowledge necessary for the profession of a 
 liberal lawyer, he was not a well-read man. With- 
 out any of his father's dignified air, his outward 
 appearance was rather insignificant ; but his coun- 
 tenance was marked by a pair of firm, compressed 
 lips, denoting great vigour and resolution. The 
 peculiarity of his voice always attracted attention. 
 In its ordinary state it was shrill and harsh ; and
 
 206 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 casual listeners, who only heard it in that state, 
 went away with the idea that it was never any thing 
 else. They never heard him admonish a prisoner, 
 of whom there was still hope ; or doom one to die ; 
 or spurn a base sentiment ; or protest before a great 
 audience on behalf of a sacred principle. The organ 
 changed into striking impressiveness, whenever it 
 had to convey the deep tones of that solemn earnest- 
 ness which was his eloquence. Always simple, 
 direct, and practical, he had little need of imagina- 
 tion; and one so engrossed by severe occupation 
 and grave thought, could not be expected to give 
 much to general society by lively conversation. 
 With his private friends he was always cheerful and 
 innocently happy. 
 
 In the midst of these negative qualities, there 
 were three positive ones which made him an admir- 
 able and very formidable person — great power of 
 reasoning ; unconquerable energy ; and the habitual 
 and conscientious practice of all the respectable, and 
 all the amiable virtues. 
 
 Though a good thinker, not quick, but sound, he 
 was a still better arguer. His reasoning powers, 
 especially as they were chiefly seen concentrated on 
 law, were of the very highest order. These, and 
 his great legal knowledge, made him the best work- 
 ing counsel in court. The intensity of his energy 
 arose from that of his conscientiousness. Everything 
 was a matter of duty with him, and therefore he 
 gave his whole soul to it. Jeffrey called him the 
 whole duty of man. Simple, indifferent, and pas-
 
 JAMES MONCRIEFF; lM)7 
 
 sive, when unyoked, give him any thing professional 
 or public to perform, and he fell upon it with a fer- 
 vour which made his adversaries tremble, and his 
 friends doubt if it was the same man. One of his 
 cures for a headache was to sit down and clear up 
 a deep legal question. With none, originally, of the 
 facilities of speaking which seem a part of some 
 men's nature, zeal, practice, and the constant pos- 
 session of good matter, gave him all the oratory that 
 he required. He could in words unravel any ar- 
 gument, however abstruse, or disentangle any facts 
 however complicated, or impress any audience with 
 the simple and serious emotions with which he 
 dealt. And, for his purpose, his style, both written 
 and spoken, was excellent — plain, clear, condensed, 
 and nervous. 
 
 Thus, the defect lay in the narrowness of the 
 range ; the merit in his force within it. Had it not 
 been for his known honesty, his inflexible constancy 
 of principle, and the impossibility of his doing any- 
 thing without stamping the act with the impression 
 of his own character, he would have been too pro- 
 fessional for public life. But zeal and purity are 
 the best grounds of public influence ; and accord- 
 ingly, in Edinburgh, or wherever he was known, 
 the mere presence of James Moncrieff satisfied people 
 that all was right. 
 
 I am not aware how his moral nature could 
 have been improved. A truer friend, a more upright 
 judge, or a more affectionate man, could not be. 
 
 His love of the church was not solely hereditary.
 
 208 LIFE OF LORD JEFFPvEY. 
 
 He himself had a strong Presbyterian taste, and 
 accordingly both the Whiggism and the grave piety 
 of what was called the wild side of the church, 
 were entirely according to his heart. He was 
 almost the only layman on that side, who used 
 regularly to attend to the proceedings of the old 
 General Assembly, and to influence them. It was 
 a sad day for him when he thought it his duty 
 to renounce that community, as he was certain that 
 his father would have done ; and to adhere to 
 what he thought its ancient and genuine principles 
 in the Free Church. He mourned over the neces- 
 sity with the sorrow of a mother weeping for a dead 
 child. 
 
 His attachment to his political principles was 
 equally steady and pure. He owned them in his 
 youth, and they clung to him through life. The 
 public meeting in 1795, for attending which, Henry 
 Erskine was turned out of the deanship, was held 
 in the Circus, which their inexperience at that time 
 of such assemblages had made them neglect to take 
 any means to light, and Erskine was obliged to 
 begin his speech in the dark. A lad, however, 
 struggled through the crowd with a dirty tallow 
 candle in his hand, which he held up, during the 
 rest of the address, before the orator's face. Many 
 shouts honoured the unknown torch bearer. This 
 lad was James Moncrieff, then about sixteen. The 
 next time that he recollected being in that place, 
 which had changed its name, was when he presided 
 a1 what is known here as the Pantheon Meeting
 
 JAMES MONCRIEFF. 209 
 
 in 1819. He died in the political faith in which 
 he had lived ; never selfish, or vindictive, or per- 
 sonal ; never keeping back, but never pushing for- 
 ward ; and always honouring his party and his cause 
 by the honesty and resolute moderation of all his 
 sentiments. 
 
 Jeffrey had the greatest regard for this most ex- 
 cellent man. On the 22d of November 182G, Mon- 
 crieff was raised by his brethren of the bar to be 
 their Dean. Some thought that Jeffrey who, besides 
 other things, w T as his senior, had a better claim. But 
 he put this down peremptorily, insisting that Mon- 
 crieff held, and deserved to hold, a higher profes- 
 sional position ; and declaring that, at any rate, he 
 would have more gratification in his friend's eleva- 
 tion than in his own. He accordingly seconded 
 Moncrieff 's nomination. Many a tougli bar battle had 
 they. But this only tightened the bands of their social 
 lives. In their judicial conflicts, Moncrieff had the 
 advantage in hard law, Jeffrey in general reasoning 
 and in legal fancy. 
 
 He died on the 30th of March 1851. 
 
 George Cranstoun, with rather a featureless 
 countenance, had a pleasing and classical profile. 
 With a deadly paleness, a general delicacy of form, 
 and gentlemanlike, though not easy, manners, the 
 general air indicated elegance, thought, and re- 
 straint. His knowledge of law was profound, ac- 
 curate, and extensive ; superior perhaps, especially 
 if due value be set on its variety, to that of every 
 other person in his day. It embraced every branch 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 210 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 of the science, feudal, mercantile, and Roman ; con- 
 stitutional and criminal ; the system not of his own 
 country alone, but, in its more general principles, 
 the jurisprudence of Europe. No great, though 
 new, question could occur, on which he was not, or 
 could not soon make himself at home. His legal 
 loins were always girt up ; and his law was digni- 
 fied by a respectable acquaintance with classical 
 and continental literature, and a very considerable 
 knowledge of the literature of Britain. Except two 
 or three casual (and rather elaborate) levities, he 
 wrote nothing but the legal arguments in which 
 the court was then so much addressed. His style 
 in this line was so clear and elegant, that there can 
 be no doubt that it would have sustained higher 
 matter. His speaking was anxiously precise 5 while 
 ingenious law, beautiful reasoning, and measured 
 diction, gave every professional speech, however in- 
 significant 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 argument, 
 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 wasfreest. 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 learn-
 
 GEORGE CRANSTOUN. J\ 1 
 
 ing. His taste was delicate, but not always sound, 
 particularly on matters of humour, which his ela- 
 boration seldom gave fair play. He no doubt felt 
 the humour of others, and had humorous concep- 
 tions of his own. But when he tried to give one of 
 them to the public, the preamble and the point 
 were so anxiously conned and polished, that the 
 principal pleasure of the audience, when they saw 
 the joke on the stocks, consisted in their watch- 
 ing the ingenious care with which it was to be 
 launched. 
 
 The defect of the whole composition was a want 
 of nature. To a very few of the kernels of his 
 friendships he was reported to be not incapable of 
 relapsing into ease. But those less favoured, and 
 his general acquaintance, were oppressed by his 
 systematic ceremony. He shrunk so into himself, 
 that those who did not understand the thing were 
 apt to suppose him timid and indifferent to common 
 distractions. But he was exactly the reverse. His 
 opinions and feelings, both of persons and of matters, 
 were decided and confident ; in forming them he 
 was entirely free from the errors that spring from* 
 undue admiration or enthusiasm ; and behind a 
 select screen they were sometimes freely disclosed. 
 But the very next moment, if before the world, the 
 habitual mask, which showed nothing but diffidence 
 and fastidious retirement, was never off. 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
 
 212 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 moral chord, but not always on the right key. 
 The disposition to get into 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. 
 
 Though a decided Whig, for which he suffered 
 professional proscription for several years, it was 
 chiefly by his character that he did good to his party. 
 Retired habits and the unfortunate ambition of per- 
 fection, excluded his practical usefulness. With no 
 indecision of principle, and no public indifference, 
 though with considerable distaste of popular vulga- 
 rity, it was beneath George Cranstoun ever to come 
 forward but on a great occasion, and with a display 
 of precise, unchallengeable excellence. This was 
 not the man for plain public work, and accordingly 
 he very rarely undertook it. 
 
 His and Jeffrey's professional struggles were 
 often very amusing. He undervalued 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 
 tlic ingenuity or the brilliant illustration of Jeffrey. 
 The one was in books ; the other in the man. 
 
 About the close of L810, Mons. Simond, a French
 
 IIATTON. 213 
 
 gentleman, who had left his country early in the re- 
 volution, came with his wife and a niece to visit 
 some friends in Edinburgh, where they remained 
 some weeks. Mad. Simond was a sister of Charles 
 Wilkes, Esq., banker in New York, a nephew of the 
 famous John ; and the niece was Miss Charlotte 
 Wilkes, a daughter of this Charles. It was during 
 this visit, I believe, that she and Jeffrey first met. 
 
 In 1812 he became the tenant of Hatton, about 
 nine miles west of Edinburgh, where he passed the 
 summer of that and of the two succeeding years. 
 The Moreheads and their family lived with him 
 there in 1812 and 1813. It had formerly been a 
 seat of the Lauderdales, by whom the mansion had 
 been built, and the grounds laid out, prior to the 
 close of the seventeenth century. In its original 
 condition, — with its shaded avenues, its terraces, 
 fountains, garden sculpture, shrubs, and its lawns, — 
 it must have been a stately and luxurious place. 
 But by 1812, time and neglect had made great 
 changes. The house was still habitable, for a 
 family disposed to be contented ; and the gardens 
 retained the charms which can scarcely be taken 
 from the grounds brightened by healthy evergreens. 
 The ballustrades, however, were broken ; the urns 
 half buried ; the fountains had ceased to play ; and 
 there was such general decay and disorder, that one 
 of the interests consisted in fancying how well it 
 must have looked when it was all entire. 
 
 This was the first country residence that Jeffrey 
 ever had of his own. He enjoyed it exceedingly. 
 It was the beginning of that half town and half
 
 214 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 villa life, which he ever afterwards led. He kept 
 no carriage then of any kind ; but rode out as 
 often as he could; which, during the vacations of 
 the court, was every day ; and, besides ordinary visi- 
 tors, no Saturday could pass without a special party 
 of his friends. But his best happiness at Hatton 
 arose from its quiet, and the opportunities it gave 
 him of making the Moreheads happy, and of prattl- 
 ing with the children. 
 
 One of his fancies for several years, both before 
 and after this, was to run for a few days to some 
 wild solitude, in the very depth of winter. " I am 
 (to Horner, 5th January 1813) just returned from 
 the top of Ben-Lomond, where I had two shots at 
 an eagle on New Year's Day. Is not that magnifi- 
 cent? and far better than special pleading, or even 
 electioneering, which I hope was your employment 
 about the same time. The weather was beautiful, 
 only not quite wintry enough for my project of 
 getting a peep of a true Alpine scene, or rather, to 
 confess the truth, a living image of St. Preux's frozen 
 haunts at Meillerie. I have not done with Rousseau 
 yet, you see, and find infinite consolation in him in 
 all seasons. 1 cannot say that I feel my taste for 
 business and affairs increase at all as I grow older; 
 and, therefore I suppose it is that I retain almost all 
 my youthful interest in other occupations." 
 
 His acquaintance with Miss Wilkes had ripened 
 into a permanent attachment, which it was at one 
 time thought would have ended in a marriage in 
 England. Her father was an Englishman, but 
 had been several years resident in America ; and
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 215 
 
 when his daughter was here, there was a scheme 
 of their all returning to settle in this country. 
 This plan had been given up, however, and the 
 bride being established again on the other side 
 of the Atlantic, it became necessary that he should 
 earn her by going there. Accordingly, in spring 
 1813 he actually resolved to do so ; which may 
 be considered as one of the greatest achievements 
 of love. For of all strong-minded men, there 
 never was one who, from what he deemed a just 
 estimate of its dangers, but in truth from mere ner- 
 vous horror, recoiled with such sincerity from all 
 watery adventures. No matter whether it was a sea 
 that was to be crossed, or a lake, or a stream, or a 
 pond. It was enough that he had to be afloat. The 
 discomforts of a voyage to America in 1813, before 
 steam had shortened the way, and relieved it by 
 every luxury enjoyable, by a landsman at sea, were 
 very great. To these were added the more material 
 dangers connected with the war then subsisting be- 
 tween the two countries, and the almost personal 
 passions under which it was conducted. But to him 
 all these risks, including even that of detention, 
 were immaterial. The sad met was, that the Atlan- 
 tic was not made of solid land. 
 
 However, his mind being made up, he set about 
 it resolutely. His clients were left to their fate ; 
 the Review to Thomson and Murray, with promises 
 of articles from some of its best contributors; and a 
 will was deposited with George Joseph Bell, which 
 conveyed all that he had to trustees lor certain pur- 
 poses. The trustees were four relations — " and my
 
 216 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 excellent friends Geo. J. Bell, John A. Murray, 
 James Campbell, James Keay, and Kobert Gramae." 
 He desired tliem " to take and give to eacli of my 
 trustees one or two dozen of claret from my cellar — 
 and also a book, or picture, or piece of furniture — to 
 drink and to keep in memory of me." Of these 
 five, Mr. Murray and Mr. Bell have been already 
 mentioned. Mr. Campbell (now of Craigie) and 
 Mr. Gramie (now of Bedgorton) continued to be his 
 excellent friends to the end of his life. So did Mr. 
 Keay, till he died in 1837 — a person of great worth 
 and judgment, and who had risen to a high station 
 at the bar. 
 
 Having armed himself with all the official 
 papers that could be got, and as many private re- 
 commendations as he chose, he and his brother 
 went to Liverpool (May 1813) to find a ship. He 
 was detained there a long while. But this showed 
 him all the celebrated men of that place; among 
 others Boscoe, with whom he does not appear to 
 have been struck. He returned to Edinburgh in 
 July, and at last, after many obstacles, set sail on 
 the 29th of August in a cartel, " the ship full of 
 visitors, and a monstrous music of cheering mari- 
 ners, squeaking pigs, and crying children." 
 
 Of course he kept a journal. 
 
 The sea does not begin to be abused till the 
 third day, when it is thus dealt with, — "No land in 
 sight, and none expected till we see America. It 
 is amazing how narrow and paltry the boundless 
 sen looks when there are no high shores in sight to 
 
 mark its boundaries ! ! should think the eve does
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 2] 7 
 
 not reach more than seven miles of the surface at 
 any time. To day it seems not much larger than 
 a Spanish dollar, and much of that complexion. 
 Not a sail or any vestige of man since the ship-of- 
 war left us. Man, indeed, has left no traces of 
 himself on the watery part of the globe. He has 
 stripped the land of its wood, and clothed it with 
 curn and with cities; he has changed its colour, its 
 inhabitants, and all its qualities. Over it he seems, 
 indeed, to have dominion ; but the sea is as wild and 
 unsubdued as on the first day of its creation. No 
 track left of the innumerable voyagers who have 
 traversed it; n<> power over its movements, or over 
 the winds by which they are influenced. It is just 
 as desert ami unaltered in all particulars as before 
 its bed was created; and would be, after his race 
 was extinct. Neither time nor art make any alter- 
 ation here. Continents are worn down and consoli- 
 dated, and the forests grow up or rot into bog, by 
 the mere lapse of ages ; but the great expanses of the 
 ocean continue witli the same surface and the same 
 aspect for ever, and are, in this respect, the most 
 perfect specimen of antiquity, and carry back the 
 imagination the farthest into the dark abysses of 
 time passed away." 
 
 The experience of the first eleven days enabled 
 him to understand the charms of a voyage, which 
 are thus summed up. "Wednesday, 8th Sept., eight 
 o'clock P.M. — For these last seven days I have not 
 been able to write for violent gales and violent sea- 
 sickness, head-winds, and swimming head, the whole 
 time almost; fierce south-west gales, which, with
 
 218 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 eternal motion and clamour, have not advanced us 
 200 miles on our course, and have given me a great 
 idea of the pleasures of a voyage. — Imprimus, oppres- 
 sive and intolerable sickness, coldness, loathing and 
 vertigo. Secundo, great occasional fear of drowning, 
 and penitence for the folly of having come volun- 
 tarily in the way of it. Tertio, There is the impos- 
 sibility of taking any exercise, and the perpetual 
 danger of breaking your limbs if you try to move 
 from your chair to your bed, or even to sit still 
 without holding. Quarto, An incessant and tremen- 
 dous noise of the ship groaning and creaking, crack- 
 ing and rattling ; to say nothing of the hissing of 
 the wind, and the boiling and bubbling of the sea. 
 Quinto, The eternal contact of the whole crew, whom 
 you hear, see, feel, and smell, by day and by night, 
 without respite or possibility of escape ; crying 
 children, chattering Frenchmen, prosing captain, 
 and foolish women, all with you for ever, and no 
 means of getting out of their hearing. Sexto, The 
 provoking uncertainty of your fate, never going 150 
 miles in one day on your way, and then taking seven 
 days to 100 ; the agreeable doubt whether your voy- 
 age is to hist three weeks or three months. Septimo, 
 The horrid cooking, and the disgusting good appe- 
 tites of those who are used to it. Octavo, The uni- 
 formity and narrowness of your view, and its great 
 ugliness. There might be twenty more items, but 
 these arc enough ; and in consideration of these 
 alone, I think I shall make a covenant with myself, 
 that if I get back sale to my own place from this 
 expedition, I shall never willingly go out of sight of
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 219 
 
 Land again in my life. There is nothing so ugly or 
 mean as the sea in roughish weather. The circuit 
 very narrow, the elevations paltry, and all the forms 
 ungraceful and ignoble. It looks like a nasty field 
 deformed with heaps of rubbish, half shovelled and 
 half frozen; and then the total want of vegetable 
 odour, or variety, or any local association, make it 
 still more uninteresting. The sunsets are sometimes 
 magnificent, but rather gloomy and terrible ; deep 
 recesses of glowing pillars, and awful prison gates 
 of red hot clouds, with sunbeams issuing from their 
 cavities, and spreading an angry and awful light on 
 the waters." 
 
 However, he was sometimes consoled by a capa- 
 city of vulgar enjoyment. u AYe killed a pig last 
 night, and made mock turtle soup of his head to- 
 day. Miss makes us excellent puddings and 
 
 pies every day, and if my sickness keeps off, I am in 
 danger of getting a habit of gormandizing." 
 
 " I have lived (he says on the 10th of Septem- 
 ber) so constantly with people I loved, and had full 
 and cordial intimacy with, that it is always quite 
 overwhelming to me to be left, for any length of 
 time, with those to whom I can feel neither famili- 
 arity nor affection. I have endeavoured to cure this 
 feeling by almost entirely occupying myself with 
 recollections and anticipations, and giving such 
 dimensions to the past and future, as to make the 
 present of little importance. This exercise of the 
 imagination is very delightful, though a little wear- 
 ing out; but if the weather continue fine, 1 shall get 
 on very well with it."
 
 220 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 And so he does, for there follows this picture of 
 a day at Hatton. " Now they are shooting part- 
 ridges amidst the singing reapers, and by the side 
 of inland brooks in Scotland ; and the leaves are 
 growing brown on my Hatton beeches, and the up- 
 lands are purple in their heath, and the air is full of 
 fragrant smell, and the voices of birds ; and Tuckey's* 
 eyes are glittering wild with joy, and every hour is 
 bringing some new face and some new thing to the 
 happy dwellers in those accessible scenes. While 
 here, there is the eternal barrenness of the water, and 
 the hissing of the winds, and the same unvarying 
 band of fellow prisoners, and eternal longing for a 
 termination that is altogether uncertain. But it will 
 come in some shape or other." 
 
 And a Sunday there is thus recalled. " Sunday, 
 12th, two o'clock. — Calm, calm, oppressively and re- 
 lentlessly calm, since seven o'clock this morning, 
 and likely enough, from all appearances, to continue 
 so. An enchanting day, too, if we could be on 
 shore ; warm, still, and glorious, with bright frothy 
 clouds, and sighing airs ; enough to rustle leaves 
 and fan the brows of fatigue; but here only flapping 
 our sails and spreading the nauseous smell of our 
 pork boiling all over the ship. There is nothing so 
 sweet to my imagination as a bright calm Sunday 
 in the early part of autumn; gilding witli its tem- 
 perate splendour, the yellow fields and holy spires, 
 and carrying, on its still and silent air, the soothing 
 sounds that fall and expire in that mild pause of 
 
 Tuckey was liis nickname For one of Morehead's little girls.
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 221 
 
 labour; lowing oxen, bleating sheep, and crowing 
 cocks, heard from farm to farm, through the clear 
 air; and even the wood pigeons and roosting crows 
 resounding through far groves ; and the distant 
 tinkling of bells, and the slow groups wandering 
 from church, and the aspect of peace, and plenty, 
 and reflection, that meets the eye on all sides. At 
 sea, however, there is nothing but a wearisome glare, 
 and a sickening heave of the water, and fretting, and 
 gloom, and impatience. 
 
 The next Sunday revives similar associations. 
 " Sunday, 19th September, eight o'clock. — I have 
 been thinking all day of my sweet leisure autumn 
 Sundays at Hatton last year ; my early walks in the 
 calm sunshine of the morning ; my grey stairs, with 
 the dewy flowers beside me ; and Tuckey's cherub 
 voice and glittering eyes ; my languid reading, and 
 careless talking all the morning ; my little contem- 
 plative trot before dinner ; our airy tea drinkings, 
 with the open windows, and the swallows skimming 
 past them ; our long twilight social walks ; Tuckey's 
 undressing, prayers, and slumbers ; my butter-milk 
 potations, quiet bed-readings, and gazing on the soft 
 moon that shone in upon my slumbers through the 
 ever open windows. What a contrast my three last 
 Sundays have afforded to this simple but happy 
 life ! To console myself, I am obliged to look for- 
 ward to New York, and make a rival picture of 
 peace and love there. Fancy, though, is less tran- 
 quil and sure in her work than memory." 
 
 The twenty -third day appears to have been a 
 heavy one. But he seems to set this down partly to
 
 222 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 the " indefinite delay of all that is most interesting in 
 existence," — which, I suppose, means the bride- 
 groom's impatience. " Monday, 20th Sept., eight 
 o'clock. — Another weary melancholy day ; not very 
 heroically borne. Calm, dead oppressive calm, 
 almost without intermission from this time last night 
 till now. Two lovely evenings too ; and the day so 
 balmy, bland, and tranquil, as ought to have made it 
 a pleasure to exist merely. But it was not; for I lan- 
 guished so for the scenes where it would have been a 
 pleasure, and felt such impatience to reach that end 
 of the tedious way, that I have been substantially 
 wretched and shamefully low. If I thought it could 
 have done me any good, I could, with great good will, 
 have crept into a corner and cried. The sky was 
 beautiful. A light varied dome of grey clouds 
 resting on a zone of brighter silver, all wrought 
 over like embossed silver, with a raised pattern of 
 darker clouds; and the sea shining below like a 
 vast pavement, or a molten sea in the temple of 
 Solomon. This evening, again, the sunset was 
 magnificent, when he descended from the more 
 solid canopy, and looked through the horizontal 
 rim ; and then, after he went down, the stars shone 
 out with such dewy softness and summer sweetness, 
 and the south wind breathed so low and gently, that 
 I almost fancied that I could smell the orange and 
 myrtle groves of the Western Islands, (they are not 
 above 200 miles off, I take it), and hear their piping 
 shepherds, and goats bleating on their twilight 
 rocks. The picture <>f llatton, though, and my 
 sweel summer evenings in those less romantic shades
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 223 
 
 soon spoiled that picture, and my usual regret and 
 impatience returned." 
 
 The only thing like a gale that relieved their 
 monotony was too slight to raise his respect for the 
 ocean. " Tuesday, 21st Sept., Evening. — We have 
 had a real gale of wind to-day, for the first time, 
 and it has neither made me sick nor terrified me. 
 Moreover, it has carried us, I dare say, 130 miles 
 on our course, and done us more good than all the 
 winds and calms of the last five days. It began 
 about three this morning, and waked us all before 
 daybreak. Notwithstanding the splashing of the 
 spray, I spent several hours on deck, and never saw 
 an uglier scene; and, what is worse, ugly, I think, 
 without being sublime or terrible. I fancy, how- 
 ever, I have a spite at the sea, for I cannot bring 
 myself to think or speak of it without a certain 
 contempt, as well as dislike. The sky was very 
 dark, and the water blue black, with a little foam, 
 and many broad spots of dirty green, where the 
 swell had recently broke. For the mountain waves 
 one reads about in descriptions, they seemed to me 
 very poor, paltry little slopes, not more than twenty 
 feet high, by about three times as much in breadth, 
 tossing very irregularly, and all wrinkled or covered 
 over their convexity in the direction of the gale. 
 The only things that had a sort of dreary magni- 
 ficence, were some black-looking birds screaming 
 through the mist, and a sort of smoking spray 
 which the wind swept from the water, and kept 
 hanging like a vapour all over its surface. We 
 went very easily through this sea at the rate of
 
 224: LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 better than seven miles an hour. If I had been 
 in a little boat, or a crazy old ship, I daresay I 
 should have been terrified ; but as it was, the spec- 
 tacle seemed to me very contemptible and paltry." 
 
 But on the 23d — " The sunset was most superb, 
 from the astonishing variety of shades and colours. 
 The sky was cloudy all round; at least four different 
 layers of clouds, all broken and seen behind each 
 other in different tints and degrees of glory, kind- 
 ling and curling in the finest groups and per- 
 spective. At different moments, and at different 
 quarters, I am sure it might have furnished a painter 
 with a hundred skies, every one singularly rich and 
 beautiful. A panorama of it, with the black flat 
 sea, brightened in various tints beneath, would have 
 made a splendid exhibition." 
 
 They caught cod on the 26th, off Newfound- 
 land ; " huge victims, who seemed of a bulk worthy 
 of the ocean." " There was something grand in- 
 deed, though very dreary, in watching the irregular 
 heaves of the misty billows under the dark and 
 heavy sky, and the wheeling of the innumerable 
 birds that hovered in our wake to pick up the offal 
 that our butchery threw overboard. This set some 
 of the men upon a new sport, which it seems is 
 common in these regions. They fastened a bit of 
 fat upon a small hook, and let it float astern. The 
 birds darted after it in crowds, and tore it from 
 each other with clamour, till the hook fastened 
 on one more voracious than the rest. They very 
 soon caught four or five in this way ; but as they 
 confessed they were good lor nothing, we per-
 
 VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 225 
 
 suaded them to give up that cruel pastime. The 
 quickness of sight in these creatures is astonish- 
 ing. Yesterday we threw out little bits of gres 
 
 nor larger than a bean, and repeatedly saw them 
 cheek and pounce upon it from a distance of many 
 hundred yards. Their agility, and the force and 
 ease of their motions, are beautiful; and I amused 
 myself for a long time in watching them skim close 
 along the smooth and misty water, now dipping 
 one end of their long wings, and now the other, now 
 soaring aloft, and then diving for a long time out 
 of sight under water, and rising and cackling with 
 joy and loquacity." 
 
 The 4th of October was the joyous day. l " Land. 
 ho ! such was the joyful cry that startled us about 
 one o'clock from the mast head, and immediately 
 we were all on the rigging to gaze at it. in a 
 lew minutes, however, it was plain enough from 
 the deck ; stretching like a long, low, dark cloud 
 along the bright edge of the horizon. It was then 
 about ten miles off, but we neared it very fast, 
 and soon distinguished woody hills, and coloured 
 fields .beneath, and a bright zone of white sand or 
 gravel binding all the shore ; and various villages 
 and human dwellings scattered along the beach. 
 Columbus himself could not be more delighted than 
 I was at this discovery ; and the sight of stationary 
 dwellings sending up quiet smoke among the trees, 
 and the spires of rustic churches, and deep brown 
 shades, and all the common traces of human habita- 
 tion and rustic life, came like a glimpse of paradise 
 
 VOL. i. Q
 
 226 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 upon my famished eves, and gave me a sense of 
 refreshment and joy that I have not known sinee 
 I left Scotland. The day was lovely and un- 
 clouded, and the appearance, however distant, of 
 comfort and secure life, peasants eating- apples 
 and new bread, and drinking new milk under their 
 own trees, appeared to me like the summit of 
 human felicity. Unfortunately, however, we were 
 indulged but with a very transient glimpse of those 
 beauties." 
 
 They were not only not allowed to land at once, 
 but for two or three days were in danger of being- 
 ordered to repair to a place about 500 miles off. 
 However, after much alarm and negotiation, the 
 voyage, in so far as he was concerned, was brought 
 to a close, on its fortieth day. He and his brother 
 were set ashore early on the morning of the 7th 
 October ; and that day " we made our way to Mr. 
 Wilkes', where I found the object of this tedious 
 navigation." 
 
 He continued in America till the 22d of January 
 1814. In November, after his marriage, lie visited 
 a few of the principal cities of the Union. But his 
 journal, though minute, records nothing, even in his 
 favourite lines of reflection and speculation, that 
 would now interest others. He appears to have 
 seen many important people, and to have been very 
 kindly received. lb' had two curious interviews, 
 one with Mi'. Munroe the secretary, and one with 
 Mr. Maddison the President; of which he gives a 
 very striking account, lie had a power of reporting
 
 INTERVIEW WITH MR. MUNROE. 227 
 
 what lie heard, whether speeches or conv< rsations, 
 more fully and accurately than almost any other 
 person trusting to memory alone. A conversation 
 reported by Jeffrey, where he spoke confidently, 
 was, in its substance, fully as correct, and nearly as 
 fresh, as the original. 
 
 He had gone to the secretary to Learn whether 
 there was any hope of his obtaining a cartel for his 
 return to Britain. After being promised every pos- 
 sible accommodation, the conversation was drawn 
 on by Mr. Munroe to the war, its provocations, prin- 
 ciples, and probable results; and particularly to the 
 right claimed by England of searching American 
 vessels for the recovery of British subjects. These 
 were matters with which Jeffrey was probably as 
 familiar as even the able and official person with 
 whom he was talking ; because the rights of neutrals 
 had been more than once discussed in the Review, 
 and in at least one article by Jeffrey himself; and, in 
 so far as the right of searching ships of war for British 
 deserters or subjects was involved, the principles 
 there maintained were strongly against the English 
 claim. But though not satisfied of the existence of 
 the right claimed, he seems to have thought that it 
 would be paltry not to stand by his country, before 
 an enemy who had him in his power. Accordingly, 
 he took the side of Britain during an animated, 
 though politely conducted, argument, which, after 
 lasting a long time one day, was renewed the next. 
 
 After this, but on the same day, (18th November 
 1813,) he had the honour of dining with the Presi-
 
 228 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 dent, when he had another discussion with him. 
 By the advice of the secretary, he took occasion, 
 when lie was about to retire, to thank his Excellency 
 for the indulgence he had met with in the matter 
 of the cartel. " This was received in a composed, 
 civil way : and then his Excellency proceeded to say 
 that it was the wish of his government to set an ex- 
 ample of the utmost liberality in everything, and to 
 prove to the world that nothing but absolute neces- 
 sity should ever induce them to adopt those princi- 
 ples of warfare which had been directed against 
 them. I said I trusted the English nation stood in 
 need of no lessons in these particulars, and that in 
 her present unfortunate hostilities with America, 
 would show the same spirit of generosity which had 
 distinguished even her most impolitic wars. He 
 took up this a little warmly, and said that the way 
 in which she had attacked the defenceless villages, 
 threatened the citizens with the fate of traitors, and 
 broken off the agreements entered into by their own 
 agents as to the exchange of prisoners, did not sax- 
 much for their spirit of generosity, and that the 
 very pretence in which the war originated, the ob- 
 stinacy and insolence with which all satisfaction had 
 been refused, and the extraordinary form in which 
 negotiation was ultimately offered, could leave little 
 doubt on any impartial mind as to the temper by 
 which it was curried on on the part of England. I 
 was a little surprised at this sort of challenge to 
 discussion, thrown out by a sovereign to a private 
 individual in liis own drawing-room. I felt, how-
 
 [NTERVIEW WITH PRESIDEN1 MADDISON. 229 
 
 ever, that it" was not my pari to decline it; and 
 being somewhat au fait of the matter by my discus- 
 sion with the^secretary, I did not hesitate to accept. 
 We entered accordingly upon a discussion which 
 
 lasted nearly two hours, and embraced all the topics 
 which 1 had gone over with Mr. M. : very nearly 
 upon the same grounds, and to the same results; 
 though maintained on the part of the President with 
 rather more caution and reserve, more shyness as to 
 concessions, and a tone considerably more acrimoni- 
 ous towards England; though perfectly civil, and 
 even courteous to myself." 
 
 After repeating the substance of each of these 
 conferences to Mr. Wilkes, as soon as they were 
 over, and thus impressing it on his mind, he wrote 
 it down, so that it is probably as correct and minute 
 an account of three conversational discussions as it 
 is possible ever to have. His defence of the general 
 conduct of this country, both in the origin, and in 
 the conduct, of the war, was manly and able ; and, 
 in so far as it depends on general reasoning, apart 
 from the authority of jurists, who were not taken into 
 council on either side, I doubt if the right of search 
 was ever more powerfully maintained. Whatever 
 the truth of the case may be, he had clearly the 
 best of these arguments ; though it be certain that 
 those of his opponents do not suffer from his state- 
 ment of them. 
 
 He left New York, on his homeward voyage, on 
 the 22d of January 1814, and reached Liverpool on 
 the 10th of February. "Once more on British
 
 230 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 ground, and done, I hope for ever, with nautical 
 journals." " I return to you (he tells Mrs. More- 
 head, in a letter of the 9th of February, while still 
 on ship-board) unchanged in everything, and if 
 possible, still more tenderly attached to Scotland, 
 and all it contains, than ever." To which he adds 
 next day on his landing, — u Arrived once more on 
 my own land. "Heaven bless you all, — and 
 
 Tuckey above all ; of whom you do not tell me one 
 half enough. I am quite feverish with joy at feel- 
 ing myself again so near you, and never to be parted 
 so far again."' 
 
 He was very speedily established at home ; with 
 its rekindled light of domestic love. It would be 
 presumptuous and indelicate to make the lady he 
 brought among us a subject of public description. 
 I shall only say that almost the whole happiness of 
 his future life flowed from this union ; and that Mrs. 
 Jeffrey uniformly showed that she deserved the 
 affection with which she inspired all his friends. 
 Alas! it is easy to utter these words! But how 
 inadequate are they to recall, vividly, what they 
 arc meant to convey ! The whole scene has passed 
 away, and every hour weakens its impressions. 
 The thirty-four years during which they were 
 united have fled, and he and she are but remem- 
 bered. Could we now feel over again the delights 
 of ;i single day passed with them in the country, or 
 of a single evening over their social fire, we would 
 then know, better than we could when it was fami- 
 liar, the depth of the natural and cheerful happi-
 
 RETURN FROM AMERU 
 
 ness which .she diffused round her husband and his 
 friends. 
 
 In his first letter to Horner after reaching home, 
 [3d May 1814) he expresses his regret that he can- 
 not, like every body else, run over and see France ; 
 because, though strongly tempted, he could not 
 move so soon again. " In the meantime 1 intend to 
 cultivate the domestic virtues, and all manner of 
 plants and flowers. I grow every day more sick of 
 the necessity of working ; and have serious thoughts 
 of going into a cottage and living on £300 a-year. 
 Only it is rather too little, and 1 should like to have 
 the means of moving about a little." This makes a 
 very good sentence in a letter; especially one ad- 
 dressed to a friend who was in no danger of being 
 misled by it. But there was nothing less seriously 
 in his niind at this time, even with a new wife, than 
 retirement, and cottages, and £300 a-year. He saw 
 the bar now fairly open to him ; and returned with 
 increased alacrity to his professional, literary, and 
 social pursuits. 
 
 When he had sailed for America, in August 1813, 
 the issue of the invasion of Russia by France was 
 uncertain ; and his fears being far stronger than his 
 hopes, he had gone away with the gloomiest view.-, 
 of public affairs. By the time that he returned, the 
 invading host was dissipated, and the war was mira- 
 culously ended, amidst events, and after experiences, 
 which seemed to promise permanent peace to the 
 world, lie was astonished and delighted, and gave 
 expression to his feelings in the very next article
 
 232 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 that he wrote for the Review ; being that beautiful 
 one on " The State and Prospects of Europe" (No. 45, 
 art. 1) ; to which, lest his predictions of a millennium 
 should be refuted by circumstances not then existing, 
 he gave the special date of the 5th of May 1814. 
 This was remarkable, he says, as the first occasion 
 on which the Review and the whole public had ever 
 been of one mind. " It would be strange indeed, 
 we think, if pages, dedicated like ours to topics of 
 present interest, and the discussions of the passing- 
 hour, should be ushered into the world at such a 
 moment as this, without some stamp of that common 
 joy and overwhelming emotion with which the 
 wonderful events of the last three months are still 
 filling all the regions of the earth. In such a situa- 
 tion it must be difficult for any one who has the 
 means of being heard, to refrain from giving utter- 
 ance to his sentiments. But to us, whom it has as- 
 sured, for the first time, of the entire sympathy of our 
 countrymen, the temptation we own is irresistible." 
 And then he goes on to the most beautiful, and the 
 most intelligent, of all the many songs of triumph 
 that poetry and oratory sang upon the novelty that 
 had lightened cvitv heart. "It had come upon the 
 world like the balmy air and flushing verdure of a 
 late spring, after the dreamy chills of a long and 
 interminable winter; and the refreshing sweetness 
 with which it has visited the earth, feels like Ely- 
 sium to those who have just escaped from the 
 driving tempests it has banished." 
 
 lie had all along been too sincerely afraid of
 
 NAPOLEON AM) WAR. 233 
 
 the war not to rejoice in its termination, without 
 troubling himself about the principles or the objects 
 
 of tin 1 powers by the success of whose troops it had 
 been ended. There were philosophers, and even 
 
 patriots, who saw nothing in Napoleon's landing at 
 Frejus except the acquiescence of a legitimately 
 elected sovereign in a call by his subjects for his 
 return from a state of compulsory banishment, to 
 govern them ; and in whose eyes the glory of 
 Waterloo was dimmed by its being only a part of 
 the scheme for imposing a government on France 
 by the force of foreign arms. The Review was 
 open to the discussion of all such ideas; but Jef- 
 frey's own opinion was clear, that a continuation of 
 the war, and of Napoleon's military despotism, were 
 the greatest of all immediate evils, and that what- 
 ever ended both ought to gratify reasonable men. 
 I cannot discover anything offensive in the Review 
 about this time, either on this or on any other sub- 
 ject ; but Mr. Horner seems to have condemned 
 some thing which I suspect was connected with the 
 Whigs and the allies, so strongly, as to have indicated 
 an inclination to have no more to do with the work. 
 This produced an admirable defence (12th March 
 1815) by Jeffrey, both of his own conduct as 
 editor, and of the principles on which any such 
 work must necessarily be conducted. The letter 
 is too long to be quoted here, but it is a sound 
 and high-minded exposition, which cannot be read 
 without admiration of his spirit and honour. 
 
 A.ppendix.
 
 234 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Horner soon afterwards (2d June 1815) asked 
 his opinion of the "new war," and blamed the 
 allied attack on France. To this he received a 
 plain answer; the substance of which was — " I am 
 mortally afraid of the war, and I think that is all 
 I can say about it. I hate Bonaparte, too, because 
 he makes me more afraid than any body else; and 
 seems more immediately the cause of my paying 
 income-tax, and having my friends killed by dysen- 
 teries and gun-shot wounds, and making my country 
 unpopular, bragging, and servile, and everything 
 that I do not wish it to be. I do think, too, that 
 the risk was, and is, far more imminent and tre- 
 mendous of the subversion of all national inde- 
 pendence, and all peaceful virtues, and mild and 
 generous habits, by his insolent triumph, than by the 
 success of the most absurd of those who are allied 
 against him." 
 
 He had left Hatton in the autumn of 1814, and 
 in the spring of 1815 transferred his rural deities to 
 Craigcrook, where he passed all his future summers. 
 It is on the eastern slope of Corstorphine Hill, about 
 three miles to the north-west of Edinburgh. When 
 he first became the tenant, the house was only an 
 old keep, respectable from age, but inconvenient for 
 a family ; and the ground was merely a bad kitchen 
 garden, of about an acre; all in paltry disorder. 
 lie immediately set about reforming. Some ill- 
 placed walls wcic removed; while others, left for 
 shelter, were in due time loaded with gorgeous ivy. 
 ;ind both protected and adorned the garden. A
 
 CRAIGCROOK. 
 
 useful, though humble, addition was made to the 
 house. And, by the help of neatness, sense, ever- 
 greens, and flowers, it was soon converted into a 
 sweet and comfortable retreat. The house received 
 a more important addition many years afterwards ; 
 but it was sufficient without this for all that his 
 family and his hospitalities at first required. But 
 by degrees, that earth hunger which the Scotch as- 
 cribe to the possession of any portion of the soil, 
 came upon him, and he enlarged and improved all 
 his appurtenances. Two sides of the mansion were 
 flanked by handsome bits of evergreened lawn. 
 Two or three western fields had -their stone fences 
 removed, and were thrown into one, which sloped 
 upwards from the house to the hill, and was 
 ciowned by a beautiful bank of wood; and the 
 whole place, which now extended to thirty or forty 
 acres, was always in excellent keeping. Its two 
 defects were, that it had no stream, and that the 
 hill robbed the house of much of the sunset. Not- 
 withstanding this, it was a most delightful spot ; the 
 best for his purposes that he could have found. 
 The low ground, consisting of the house and its 
 precincts, contained all that could be desired for 
 secluded quiet, and for reasonable luxury. The 
 high commanded magnificent and beautiful views, 
 embracing some of the distant mountains in the 
 shires of Perth and Stirling, the near inland sea of 
 the Frith of Forth, Edinburgh and its associated 
 heights, and the green and peaceful nest of Craig- 
 crool? itself.
 
 236 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 During the thirty-four seasons that he passed 
 there, what a scene of happiness was that spot ! 
 To his own household it was all that their hearts 
 desired. Mrs. Jeffrey knew the genealogy, and the 
 personal history and character, of every shrub and 
 flower it contained. It was the favourite resort of 
 his friends, who knew no such enjoyment as Jeffrey 
 at that plaee. And, with the exception of Abbots- 
 ford, there were more interesting strangers there 
 than in any house in Scotland. Saturday, during 
 the summer session of the courts, was always a day 
 of festivity ; chiefly, but by no means exclusively, 
 for his friends at the bar, many of whom were un- 
 der general invitations. Unlike some barbarous 
 tribunals which feel no difference between the last 
 and any other day of the week, but moil on with 
 the same stupidity through them all, and would in- 
 clude Sunday if they could, our legal practitioners, 
 like most of the other sons of bondage in Scotland, 
 are liberated earlier on Saturday ; and the Craig- 
 crook party began to assemble about three, each 
 taking to his own enjoyment. The bowling-green 
 was sure to have its matches, in which the host 
 joined with skill and keenness; the garden had its 
 loiterers; the flowers, not forgetting the Avail of 
 glorious yellow roses, their worshippers; the hill 
 its prospect seekers. The banquet that followed 
 was generous; the wines never spared, but rather 
 too various ; mirth unrestrained, except by pro- 
 priety ; the talk always good, but never ambitious; 
 ;oi(l mere listeners in no disrepute. What can
 
 CRAIGCROOK. 237 
 
 efface' these days, or indeed any Oraigcrook day, 
 from the recollection of those who had the happi- 
 ness of enjoying them.* 
 
 Horner wrote to him recommending the Baconian 
 gardening, f To which he answers (9th .lane 1815) 
 " I intended to have been heretical in the other 
 way, and to have accused you of affectation, for pro- 
 fessing an admiration of Bacon's style of gardening. 
 I am not for bold staring houses, and hare lawns, 
 any more than you are. But really they are con- 
 siderably more tolerable than a paltry wilderness of 
 four square acres, or groves and arbours, w or fair 
 pillars of carpenters' work;' and the truth is, that 
 you durst no more make such a horrid Dutch Lust 
 held, than you durst put on the quilted breeches and 
 the high crowned hat of the great philosopher. 
 However, come to Oraigcrook, and debate the matter 
 manfully." 
 
 In the autumn of this year (1815) he gratified 
 his desire of seeing the Continent for the first time. 
 
 * A fictitious person of the name of Morris (but who represents 
 a real man, and a powerful writer), and who, in Peter's Letters to 
 his Kinsfolk, published in 1819, professes to describe Edinburgh 
 and its neighbourhood, mentions, as if he had seen it. a ( Iraigcrook 
 scene, where the whole party, including Mr. Playfair, who died in 
 July 1819, aged seventy-one, took off their coats and had a leaping 
 match. As the liveliness and individuality of Dr. Morris's descrip- 
 tions have made some of the simple believe them to be all real, it 
 may be as well to say that this is entirely a fancy piece. And, for 
 so skilful a painter, it is nut well fancied. It is totally unlike the 
 Oraigcrook proceedings, and utterly repugnant to all the habits of 
 Mr. Playfair. 
 
 4- s, e Horner's Memoirs, ii. '2 1'.'.
 
 238 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 The immediate temptation was, that he could have 
 the company and the aid of Mons. Simond. Madame 
 Simond remained with Mrs. Jeffrey at Craigcrook. 
 In writing* to Mr. Richardson for his passports (14th 
 September 1815) — ■" Can I do any thing for you 
 where I am going? I go, after all, with a heavy 
 heart, and would rather stay at home. Nothing 
 that I shall see abroad, I am sure, will give me half 
 the pleasure of seeing my friends again upon my 
 return ; and it is quite refreshing to think that I may 
 have a peep of so many of them at Hampstead, as 
 I pass through London." 
 
 Yet he was only away about a month • having 
 reached Rotterdam from Harwich on the 24th of 
 ►September, and returned to Dover on the 25th of 
 October. He ran through Holland and Flanders, 
 seeing the common sights of galleries and curious 
 towns ; and was above a fortnight in Paris. A full 
 and minute journal details the proceedings of every 
 day. These were interesting then, from the novelty 
 of scenes that had been closed against the British 
 traveller for nearly twenty-five years. But now 
 that they arc familiar to every one, there is no par- 
 ticular attraction in the statement of even Jeffrey's 
 observations mid impressions. To himself, at the 
 time, it was their novelty that chiefly struck him; 
 and he calls what he was writing ;i mere traveller's 
 guide-book. Though lively and descriptive, it is 
 not worth quoting. One of the few reflections that 
 lie makes was at Waterloo — " Half of the ground is 
 :: ' Where .Mr. Richardson then lived.
 
 FB \NCK. 
 
 now ploughed up; and except the broken trees and 
 burnt offices at Hugomont, there is nothing to mark 
 the scene of so much havoc and desolation. The 
 people are ploughing and reaping, and old men fol- 
 lowing their old occupations, in their old fields, as 
 if 00,000 youths had not fallen to manure them 
 within these six months. The tottering chimney 
 tops are standing, the glass unbroken in the win- 
 dows, the roads and paths all winding as before, 
 the grass as green, and the trees as fresh, as if this 
 fiery deluge of war had not rolled over the spot 
 on which they are standing. I picked up a bit of 
 cloth and a piece of a bridle." Me had got excel- 
 lent introductions from Lord Holland and Sir James 
 Mackintosh for Paris; where he accordingly saw a 
 number of important people, and a good deal of 
 Parisian society. But he records little memorable 
 even for that day, and nothing that it would be 
 worth while to repeat now. All the political feel- 
 ing seems to have been concentrated into hatred of 
 the Bourbons and the English, and utter uncertainty 
 as to what would be the next act of France's pro- 
 tracted tragedy. In the long voyage from Boulogne 
 to Dover, " The sea and the wind became both very 
 high, particularly the former; a worse and more 
 dangerous sea than is often seen in the open ocean, 
 from the shortness and irregularity of the swell." 
 He rinishes by saying that he had examined all the 
 wonders of Dover, and "have admired the modest 
 and domestic look of the women — eaten roast beef, 
 apple pie, and mutton chops — drank beer and port
 
 240 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 wine — and felt myself taking very kindly to all my 
 old British habits, and prejudices. The best use of 
 going- abroad, I take it, is to make one fond of home ; 
 a fondness on which virtue and happiness are both 
 most securely built ; and which one who does not 
 leave home too early, can scarcely fail to increase 
 by such an experiment. Something is learnt too, I 
 suppose, though probably of no great value. And 
 tilings are pleasant to recollect, and to talk of at a 
 distance, which were wearisome enough when they 
 occurred. It was solely to enable me to recollect 
 them, that I have put down this indistinct notice of 
 them all." 
 
 A change took place in the beginning of next 
 year, in the administration of justice in Scotland, 
 which it was foreseen would be of importance to 
 Jeffrey. It consisted of the introduction of juries 
 for the trial of facts in civil causes, which was 
 first practised on the 22d of January 1816. There 
 were no juries here before this except in Exchequer, 
 and in criminal prosecutions. The practice in these 
 courts was not extensive; but such as it was, lie 
 had had the best of it, at least before the criminal 
 tribunal, for several years; and his success there 
 suggested him as the counsel likely to he the most 
 successful gleaner in the new field. This expecta- 
 tion was qo1 disappointed. lie instantly took up 
 our side of almost every trial in what was then 
 called the Jury Court, as it" it had been a sort, of 
 fight, and held this position as long as lie was 
 at the bar. "Tell me, (says Horner, 2d dune
 
 Ills PROFESSIONAL MERITS. 241 
 
 1815), what is doing, or meant to be done, about 
 your Jury Court. That will be a great field for 
 you. The success of the new institution must, 
 in a very great measure, depend on the exertions 
 made by the bar." " And with so much of genius 
 and philosophy as adorn the Parliament House 
 at present, it will be imputable to your indolence 
 only if you do not give the thing a right impulse at 
 first," &c. 
 
 Jeffrey was well fitted for the new sphere in 
 every respect, though not perhaps without some 
 deductions. His law, which was now recognised 
 as sufficient for the deepest discussions before the 
 judges, was far more than sufficient for any emer- 
 gency likely to occur in a court, which, instead of 
 getting whole causes to dispose of, had only to 
 investigate certain detached matters of fact specified 
 in previously adjusted issues. He had as great a 
 familiarity with the rules and the philosophy of 
 evidence as any one either at the bar or on the 
 bench. Caution and distrust made him a safe 
 adviser of his client ; while no flaw in the case or 
 in the reasoning of his adversary could escape his 
 acuteness. Though superior to the ludicrous and 
 miserable weakness, proceeding generally from pro- 
 fessional selfishness, which drives some counsel to 
 identify themselves with every client who employs 
 them, and to fancy that truth and justice are always 
 on their side, a sense of duty, and a natural energy 
 of temperament, excited him to as much zeal as an 
 honourable advocate ought to feel or to profess. 
 
 vol. i. R
 
 24:2 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Rarely misled by the temptation of a merely tem- 
 porary triumph, his general management was judi- 
 cious and prospective. In sagacity he had no 
 superior. It was his peculiar quality. Through 
 the usual dishonesty, misinformation, and prejudices, 
 by which every advocate is liable to be misled, he 
 felt, and could predict, what, either of principle or 
 of assertion, would ultimately stand or would ulti- 
 mately fail. Thus seeing, from the outset of the 
 voyage, all the rocks and shoals on which the ship 
 was likely to strike, and all the gales that might 
 favour or obstruct it — all the anchors that would 
 hold, and all the harbours of refuge into which it 
 might be run, his steerage was that of a first-rate legal 
 pilot. He scented what would turn out nonsense or 
 falsehood a great way off, and thus was the safest 
 of all general advisers. It was not exactly acute- 
 ness or talent ; it was a faculty which these quali- 
 ties often obstruct. Sagacity — or, at least, the sort 
 of sagacity which I mean to describe as belong- 
 ing to him consists, principally in the power of 
 taking large and calm surveys with a view to detect 
 strong or weak points. A person who, know- 
 ing him, had never seen him at this work, might 
 have doubted his being effective with juries. He 
 might have feared a manner still somewhat arti- 
 ficial, and a mind addicted to more refined reasoning 
 than plain men might relish. Some of these mis- 
 givings would not have been unreasonable. There 
 was, in truth, a want of plainness, directness, and 
 shortness. I»nt it adds greatly to the merit of
 
 His PROFESSIONAL MERITS. 243 
 
 his success, that he triumphed over even these de- 
 tects. An invaluable memory for details, enabled 
 him to array, and to compare, any circumstances, 
 however numerous or complicated ;° and for what- 
 ever difficulty talent was required, lie had it in 
 every variety at command. Revelling in the exu- 
 berance of his powers, he sometimes put the matter 
 in too many lights ; but he never failed to put it 
 in some, or in one, from which no rusticity could 
 escape. The plausibility with which his own so- 
 phistry was veiled, was only equalled by the skill 
 with which he exposed that of his opponent. If it 
 was a case where humour was convenient, it gushed 
 readily from a mind habitually practised in in- 
 genious combination of ideas and resemblances, and 
 so brilliant in illustration, that Southey thought this 
 the peculiarity of his intellect. Was a grave or 
 a lofty train of thought or of sentiment proper, who 
 could rise to it more nobly than one who had only 
 to yield to his own natural feelings? But there 
 was another influence around him more honourable 
 than any that mere talent could confer. The people 
 were proud of the Review, of which they were 
 aware that he was the spirit ; and they knew that 
 there was no scheme for their elevation which did 
 not acknowledge him for its leader, or its most in- 
 
 * He had a fancy, or said that he had it, that though he went 
 to bed with his head stuffed and confused with the names, and dates, 
 and other details, of various causes, they were all in order in the 
 morning; which he accounted for by saying, that during sleep 
 " they all crystalized round their proper centres."
 
 2-4-1 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 telligent champion. Then they had always heard 
 of him as amiable and generous ; and when they 
 saw him, and he began to do business with them, 
 either gravely or playfully, they were the more dis- 
 posed to admire the counsel from their personal love 
 of the man. 
 
 I wish I could give some examples of his pro- 
 fessional style. But it is impossible. Such dis- 
 plays can never be appreciated, or indeed under- 
 stood, unless where the whole circumstances are 
 fully reported ; and even then they are of no value 
 unless they be connected with public events. The 
 life of an advocate is a life spent in the midst of 
 occurrences of the deepest interest to parties ; but 
 which, to others, vanishes with the passing hour. 
 There is not a day in which talents are not exhibited 
 in courts of justice equal to the highest that can 
 operate in the most difficult employments in which 
 the human mind can be engaged. The exercise of 
 these talents saves or ruins families. It inflames 
 able men with the fire of professional ambition. 
 It agitates spectators according to various sym- 
 pathies. If a great public principle or result be 
 involved, such as history must transmit to posterity, 
 what occurs keeps its interest; not as a judicial 
 proceeding, but as a political event. If only private 
 concerns be at issue, the whole affair, though marked 
 by admirable displays of ability, is almost as little 
 cared for after it is over, as the last theatrical 
 exhibition of a great actor. What preserves the 
 forensic glory of Thomas Erskine, except the State
 
 Ills PROFESSIONAL MERITS. 245 
 
 trials, which gave subjects of permanent dignity to 
 
 his genius, and which, thus sustained, his genius 
 made immortal? Few such occasions occur even 
 in England, and far fewer in Scotland ; — during Jef- 
 frey's time, indeed, none ; and those that possessed 
 some temporary local importance are so imperfectly 
 reported, that the published accounts would rather 
 mislead than assist us in estimating his powers or 
 his style. 
 
 The first application of juries to civil justice 
 was entrusted to the Right Hon. William Adam of 
 Blair-Adam, in Kinross-shire, who was put at the 
 head of the new court. This led to an agreeable 
 intercourse between him and Jeffrey. Jeffrey had 
 kept up his Speculative Society friendship with Wil- 
 liam Adam, the son ; but he now gained the esteem 
 of the whole family ; and speaks, in many of his 
 letters, of his delightful visits to them, in all their 
 branches, both at Blair-Adam and at their villa at 
 Richmond. 
 
 In 181G he wrote the article Beauty for the 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Of all the treatises that 
 have been published on the theory of taste, it is the 
 most complete in its philosophy, and the most de- 
 lightful in its writing : and it is as sound as the sub- 
 ject admits of. 
 
 After the peace, by delivering the people from 
 foreign alarm, had given them leisure to look into 
 their domestic condition, the various questions of 
 reform that have ever since engrossed their attention 
 began successively to arise. Consistently with the
 
 246 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 principles and objects it had always adhered to, the 
 Review engaged, with its usual animation, in all 
 these discussions. But Jeffrey, though as enthusias- 
 tic a reformer as was consistent with prudence, made 
 few personal contributions in this form to the cause. 
 Public affairs indeed were generally the smallest of 
 his departments, though in none, when he ventured 
 into it, was his wisdom more conspicuous •, but after 
 this he cultivated the subject even more sparingly 
 than he used to do. Between 1815 and 1820, inclu- 
 sive, he seems to have only written one article 
 directly on British politics. Nobody who lived in 
 1819 and 1820 can have forgotten the frightful con- 
 dition of large portions of the population ; when 
 demagogues aggravated the real miseries of want, 
 by ascribing it to wilful human causes. It was the 
 most horrid period since the days of 1793. Jeffrey's 
 humanity would not allow him to avoid giving a 
 few words of advice on such a crisis ; and in Octo- 
 ber 1819 he wrote a short but excellent article on 
 the state of the nation (No. 64, art. 2), containing an 
 exposition to all parties of their errors, their duties, 
 and their danger. Mis only other articles connected 
 with even general politics were one on De Stael's 
 French Revolution (September 1818), and one (in 
 May 1820) on the jealousies between America and 
 Britain. This last was a subject to which he was 
 never indifferent. He had constantly endeavoured 
 to remove the irritations which made these two 
 kindred nations think s<> uncharitably and so ab- 
 surdly of each oilier. This article contains an exa-
 
 A.MERICA. 247 
 
 mination of the grounds on which this want of 
 candour is charged by the author of the book he is 
 criticising as solely on the side of the British, and 
 an earnest appeal to the good sense of both com- 
 munities. He has reprinted this admirable paper in 
 his Selected Contributions, with this note, (v. 4. p. 
 167) — "There is no one feeling — having public 
 concerns for its object — with which I have been so 
 long and so deeply impressed, as that of the vast 
 importance of our maintaining friendly, and even 
 cordial relations, with the free, powerful, moral, and 
 industrious States of America — a condition upon 
 which 1 cannot help thinking that not only our 
 own freedom and prosperity, but that of the better 
 part of the world, will ultimately be found to 
 be more and more dependant. I give the first 
 place, therefore, in this concluding division of the 
 work, to an earnest and somewhat importunate 
 exhortation to this effect, which, I believe, pro- 
 duced some impression at the time, and I trust may 
 still help forward the good end to which it was 
 directed." 
 
 With these exceptions, his whole contributions 
 during these six years were of a literary character. 
 And it is impossible to read their mere titles with- 
 out being struck with the view which they exhibit 
 of mental richness and activity. He was in the full 
 career of a professional practice that occupied the 
 greatest portion of Ids whole time, and during about 
 eight months yearly could not be got through with- 
 out the exclusive use of ten or even twelve hours
 
 248 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 a day ; besides which, those who only saw him in 
 society, and knew not how the fragments of a dili- 
 
 J 7 O 
 
 gent man's time may be gathered up, might sup- 
 pose that he had nothing to do but to dine and to 
 talk. Nevertheless, besides the three articles just 
 mentioned, he wrote, during this period, about 
 thirty-six more, chiefly on literature, biography, 
 and general history. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into any explanation 
 of the nature of the constitutional and economical 
 reforms which the Whig party in Scotland had been 
 long recommending ; and which, now that the people 
 had awakened, and the war could no longer be made 
 the apology for adhering to every abuse, they pressed 
 with greater confidence than ever. It is sufficient 
 to state the facts, that the great majority of the 
 nation deemed these reforms indispensable ; and 
 that they have since been all sanctioned by Parlia- 
 ment. The best leaders of the Scotch Whig party 
 were still members of the Faculty of Advocates ; 
 who, contrary to their interests, had adhered to their 
 principles with a constancy most honourable to 
 themselves, and I fear, with too few examples at 
 other bars. It was to the Parliament House that 
 the country looked for guidance; and to no indivi- 
 dual so much as to Jeffrey. He justified their con- 
 fidence by his zeal, intelligence, and caution. See- 
 ing the course that the current was taking, and the 
 certainty of its being at last irresistible, he thought 
 the slowness of its motion, which gave more time 
 for knowledge, no misfortune: and therefore seldom
 
 SCOTCH REFORM. 249 
 
 originated active proceedings. But, so as his uni- 
 form recommendation of uniting reasonableness of 
 object with temperance of means, was acceded to, 
 lie never shrunk from coming forward when re- 
 quired; and, consequently, was always in the van. 
 The battles he had to fight, like most of the common 
 battles of party after they are over, may seem insigni- 
 ficant now. But they were of very serious import- 
 ance at the time, insomuch that there are many who 
 will consider a failure to explain them as depriving 
 Jeffrey of much of his public merit. But I cannot 
 think that any exposition of their detail is necessary, 
 or that reasonable curiosity may not be satisfied by 
 a general reference to transactions which, even at 
 the distance of thirty years, there is some pain in 
 remembering. I shall therefore only state, that as 
 it was clear that the battle of internal reform had 
 begun, there was no place where this truth was per- 
 ceived with greater horror than at Edinburgh. The 
 reason of this was that Edinburgh was the great 
 seat of the influence of Government in Scotland. 
 The most numerous, and the highest class of poli- 
 tical competitors was there, and there was more 
 patronage to fight for. Complaint had been so 
 habitually crushed, that the defenders of the old 
 system considered every effort towards independence 
 as rebellion 5 while those who made these efforts 
 treated opposition to them as tyranny. Neither of 
 these feelings was at all unnatural, in the position 
 <>f the parties. But the conflict was carried on witli 
 vcrv different arms; which I shall not describe
 
 250 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 or contrast. The Whigs made no secret that their 
 object was to emancipate Scotland. They were op- 
 posed with great bitterness, and with unhandsome 
 weapons. These local animosities lasted some years, 
 and brought Jeffrey and his associates into constant 
 collision with their opponents. During those pro- 
 tracted and irritating proceedings, his judgment and 
 his eloquence were often required, and nearly as 
 often exerted ; to the effect of greatly animating the 
 spirits, and advancing the cause, of his party all 
 over the country. I will not gain him praise by any 
 more particular disclosure of scenes which I wish 
 I could forget, and which I am persuaded that 
 others regret. But I could convey no idea of his 
 exertions in what he thought the right public cause 
 without mentioning generally some of his appear- 
 ances as they arose. 
 
 It is impossible to do so, or indeed to explain 
 almost any of the local proceedings of his public 
 life, without mentioning Sir James Craig, who was 
 active in them all. He died at his seat of Riccar- 
 ton, on the 6th March 1850, in his eighty -fifth year. 
 Prompt, aide, and vigorous ; with a decisive and 
 resolute maimer; his whole life was spent in fear- 
 less usefulness. He was so prominent in our worst 
 limes, that it is difficult to understand how Thomas 
 Muir could be transported, and .James Gibson, (his 
 original name), not be even tried. Boldness, talent, 
 and devotion to the apparently desperate cause of 
 Scottish freedom, and even his personal strength and 
 stateliness, made him the terror and hatred of some 5
 
 SIR JAMES CRAIG. 251 
 
 while the same qualities, exercised without the re- 
 laxation of almost a single day, and given without 
 regard to trouble, risk, or expense, to every object 
 connected with our liberation, made him the idol of 
 others. No private individual, out of Parliament, 
 never publishing, and rarely speaking, and largely 
 occupied with private business, did so much, through- 
 out all its progress, to uphold the popular cause. 
 There could be no ebb or flow of Whiggism in Scot- 
 land, but this active and ardent spirit was sure to 
 be in the midst of it. When public discussion was 
 necessary, good sense generally withdrew him from 
 the conspicuous positions; but those who occupied 
 them could best tell what they owed to his previous 
 management. Being the general patron of all the 
 needy patriots in Scotland, to whom he had long 
 been predicting brighter days, he sought for places 
 for them far oftener than he liked ; but for himself 
 he was spotless. He refused everything, both when 
 the Whigs were in office in 1805, and in 1830; 
 and, except his baronetcy in 1832, I am not aware 
 that any benefits depending on politics, ever ac- 
 crued through him, either to himself or to any 
 member of his family. Besides being relied upon 
 by political allies, he had the personal confidence 
 and esteem of many to whom his politics were 
 odious. He owed this to his general ability in 
 business, and to the warmth of his heart. For, 
 with all his party zeal, he was a milky blooded 
 man. No one could doubt this who was ever with 
 him in his family. Seeing Sir James Craig in his
 
 252 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 fields, or among his villagers, or by liis fireside, 
 was one of the sights that show how, in right 
 natures, the kind affections can survive public con- 
 tention. Craig's very name suggested the idea of 
 Ephesus and conflict ; yet no contented man, wear- 
 ing his days away in the tranquillity of rural life, 
 could be more amiable. This was one of the cases 
 which makes the simple comprehend how the fierce 
 opposition of some public men can subsist with 
 perfect candour and good will before each attack 
 begins, and the instant after it ends; so that while 
 the world sees nothing but the foaming of the cata- 
 ract, and imagines that these men are all rapids, 
 the truth is, that their private lives flow away 
 sweetly and silently. Craig had almost a venera- 
 tion for Jeffrey, and Jeffrey had a high esteem of 
 him. Not that he could always sympathise with 
 Sir J allies' zeal; or that he did not sometimes fret 
 under his activity ; or, especially when Lord Ad- 
 vocate, that he had not occasionally to check his 
 interference. But these exceptions left their general 
 relation unimpaired, and whenever Jeffrey appeared 
 publicly in any Scotch movement, it might be. 
 deemed nearly certain that he and Craig were in 
 concert. 
 
 On the 24th of February 1816, a public meeting 
 was held in Edinburgh, in favour of the abolition 
 of the income-tax. Though not a party meeting, 
 the bad example of any political meeting what- 
 ever excited considerable alarm. Jeffrey made the 
 principal speech, and moved certain resolutions.
 
 MACLAREN AND BAIRD — COLERIDGE— CHALMERS. -J~>'.'> 
 
 which .lames Moncrieff seconded, and they were 
 carried. 
 
 On the 5th of March 1S17, in the paltry case 
 of Maclaren and Baird (State trials, vol. xxxiii.), 
 who were that day convicted of sedition, he made 
 the best speech that has ever yet been made in a 
 Scotch court in defence of a prisoner accused of 
 that crime. 
 
 The " Biographical Sketches of my Literary Life 
 and Opinions" by Mr. Coleridge, published that 
 year, contained a very unhandsome personal attach- 
 on him, founded upon most inaccurate statements 
 of what had passed at a visit paid by him to 
 Mr. Southev in 1810, at which ^Ir. Coleridge was 
 present. Jeffrey wrote a review of this work, (No. 
 56, article 10, August 1817), to which he added a 
 long' note, giving his version of this affair, and de- 
 fending his general literary treatment of the Lake 
 school. This defence was rpiite proper at the time ; 
 but the personal matter has now become insigni- 
 ficant. The parties are all dead ; and if any living 
 man can believe that Jeffrey was capable of be- 
 having with meanness and cruelty, that person may 
 read this note, and then adhere to his belief if he can. 
 
 It was about this time that he first became 
 acquainted with the Eev. Dr. Chalmers, who began 
 to contribute excellent articles to the Review. There 
 w T as a strong mutual affection and admiration, each 
 appreciating the virtues, and understanding the 
 genius, of the other. There were few, unconnected 
 with him in religious objects, whom Chalmers loved
 
 254 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 more ; and Jeffrey always thought him a great moral 
 philosopher, an enthusiastic philanthropist, and the 
 noblest orator of the age. 
 
 In February 1818, he did what he never did 
 before or since. He stuck a speech. John Kemble 
 had taken his leave of our stage, and before quitting 
 Edinburgh, about sixty or seventy of his admirers 
 gave him a dinner and a snuff-box. Jeffrey was 
 put into the chair, and had to make the address 
 previous to the presentation. He began very pro- 
 misingly, but got confused, and amazed both him- 
 self and every body else, by actually sitting down, 
 and leaving the speech unfinished; and, until re- 
 minded of that part of his duty, not even thrusting 
 the box into the hand of the intended receiver. He 
 afterwards told me the reason of this. He had not 
 premeditated the scene, and thought he had nothing 
 to do, except in the name of the company to give 
 the box. But as soon as he rose to do this, Kemble, 
 who was beside him, rose also, and with most for- 
 midable dignity. This forced Jeffrey to look up to 
 his man ; when he found himself annihilated by the 
 tall tragic god ; who sank him to the earth at every 
 compliment, by obeisances of overwhelming grace 
 and stateliness. If the chairman had anticipated his 
 position, or recovered from his first confusion, his 
 mind and words could easily have subdued even 
 Kemble. 
 
 About this period Edinburgh was clouded by 
 several sad deaths. 
 
 Horner died on the 1 7th of April 1817. His
 
 DEATHS OF BORNER, ERSKINE, AND GORDON. 255 
 
 memoirs bave since been published by bis brother 
 Leonard, to whom, both on his own account, and 
 because it tended to recall the deceased, Jeffrey 
 transferred great affection. Mr. Leonard Horner 
 mentions in liis preface, that, instead of making out 
 this interesting life himself, he had put the papers 
 into the hands of an "eminent person, who, by his 
 early and uninterrupted intimacy with my brother, 
 his varied accomplishments, and his known powers 
 as a writer, was peculiarly fitted to be my brother's 
 biographer." This person was Jeffrey, who delayed 
 the task so long that he was obliged at last to give 
 it up. 
 
 Henry Erskine died on the 8th of October of 
 that year. Jeffrey thought so highly of him, that 
 he wrote an account of him, which he sent, as he 
 once or twice did other slight articles, to the Scots 
 Magazine, then conducted by his friend Morehead, 
 and afterwards gave it a place in the last volume of 
 his Selected Contributions. It is short, but affec- 
 tionate and just. 
 
 Erskine disappeared in old age. But Dr. John 
 Gordon, physician, who died in June 1818, was 
 taken from us in the very flower of his manhood. 
 He was one of the many young men whose talents 
 the late Dr. John Thomson had the merit of dis- 
 covering and encouraging. A taste for science was 
 combined in him with well directed industry, and 
 with a look and manner inexpressibly pleasing. He 
 was rising rapidly to the best medical practice, and 
 the success of his private lectures on physiology
 
 256 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 justified our proudest hopes for the University. His 
 unexpected loss made a momentary pause in our 
 sorrow for Horner. Jeffrey had a genuine affection 
 for him ; a feeling, however, in which the whole 
 community shared. He was only ill a few days ; 
 and on the last day he was ever out, he sat in an 
 arbour in the garden of Craigcrook. His friend, Dr. 
 Daniel Ellis, the author of several valuable works 
 on vegetable physiology, published a memoir of him. 
 The beautiful account of his personal character and 
 demeanour was supplied by Jeffrey. The " graceful 
 frankness, and gay sincerity" are very descriptive of 
 the manner. 
 
 Lord Webb Seymour, after a long course of 
 feeble health, passed away on the 10th of April 1819. 
 
 His great friend John Playfair, for whom indeed 
 principally he had fixed himself in Edinburgh, fol- 
 lowed him in three months. His death was on the 
 19th of July 1819. Jeffrey has left a description of 
 this delightful philosopher also ; so true and so 
 discriminating, that it would be presumptuous in 
 any one else to touch the portrait. That part of the 
 funeral which takes place within the house, was a 
 spectacle never to be forgotten ; attended as it was 
 by the most eminent men in this place, among whom 
 were Dugald Stewart, Dr. James Gregory, Mr. Henry 
 Mackenzie, the Rev. Archibald Alison, Dr. Thomas 
 Brown, Mr. Thomas Thomson, Mr. Jeffrey, and 
 others of that order, the friends and old associates of 
 the deceased, and elevated by the noblest of prayers 
 by Sir Harry.
 
 KINDNESS TO MOORE. 25i 
 
 To those who knew Edinburgh, I need not s;i\ 
 what it suffered by the loss of these five men. They 
 were the delight and the pride of the place. 
 
 Jeffrey felt equally honoured by the friendship 
 of another eminent person, whose regard for him 
 was the chief inducement to his occasionally visiting 
 tli is place, — James Watt, the improver of the steam 
 engine. He died on the 25th of August 1819. 
 And, on the 4th of September, there appeared in the 
 Scotsman newspaper, that striking delineation of 
 the man, and what he had done, by Jeffrey, which 
 he has since published at the end of his Contributions. 
 
 It was reported about this time that Mr. Thomas 
 Moore had fallen under some severe pecuniary mis- 
 fortune, on which Jeffrey wrote as follows to Mr. 
 Rogers : — 
 
 "Edinburgh, 30th July 1819.— My dear Sir, I 
 have been very much shocked and distressed by ob- 
 serving in the newspapers the great pecuniary cala- 
 mity which has fallen on our excellent friend Moore; 
 and not being able to get any distinct information, 
 either as to its extent, or its probable consequences, 
 from any body here, I have thought it best to re- 
 lieve my anxiety by applying to you, whose kind 
 concern in him must have made you acquainted 
 with all the particulars, and willing, I hope, to sa- 
 tisfy the inquiries of one who sincerely shows in- 
 terest in his concerns. I do not know, however, 
 that I should have troubled you merely to answer 
 any useless inquiry. But in wishing to know whe- 
 ther any steps have been taken to mitigate this 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 disaster. I am desirous of knowing also, whether 
 I can be of any use on the occasion. I have unfor- 
 tunately not a great deal of money to spare. But 
 if it should be found practicable to relieve him from 
 this unmerited distress by any contribution, I beg 
 leave to say I should think it an honour to be 
 allowed to take a share in it to the extent of £800, 
 or £500, and that I could advance more than 
 double that sum over and above, upon any reason- 
 able security of ultimate repayment, however long 
 postponed. I am quite aware of the difficulty of 
 carrying through any such arrangement with a man 
 of Moore's high feeling and character, and had he 
 been unmarried, or without children, he might have 
 been less reluctantly left to the guidance and sup- 
 port of that character. But as it is, I think his 
 friends are bound to make an effort to prevent such 
 lasting and extended misery as, from all I have heard, 
 seems now to be impending. And in hands at once 
 so kind and so delicate as yours, I flatter myself 
 that this may be found practicable. I need not add, 
 I am sure, that I am most anxious that, whether ul- 
 timately acted upon or not, this communication 
 should never be mentioned to Moore himself. If 
 you please you may tell him that I have been 
 deeply distressed by his misfortunes, and should 
 be most happy to do him any service. But as I 
 have no right to speak to him of money, I do 
 not think he should know that T have spoken of it 
 to you. Tf my offer is accepted, I shall consider 
 vou and not him as the acceptor. And lie ought
 
 DIFFERENCE WITH AN ENGLISH COUNSEL. 259 
 
 not to be burdened with the knowledge of any other 
 benefactor. 
 
 " Is there no chance of seeing you in Scotland 
 again? We have had a sad loss in Playfair, and 
 which is quite irreparable to the society here. It is 
 a comfort to think we cannot possibly have such 
 another. We had a great fright about Scott, but 
 fortunately he is quite recovered. I have a sort of 
 project of running over to Paris again this autumn. 
 If I had a chance of finding you in the Rue de 
 Ivivoli, I should not hesitate a moment. I am not 
 quite so insensible to the advantages of this en- 
 counter as I appeared to be. And I have a thousand 
 times since reproached myself for having made so 
 little use of them." 
 
 A commission was issued in summer 1820, for 
 the trial of certain persons in Scotland who were 
 charged with high treason. Jeffrey (as I under- 
 stand), from that professional charity which is so 
 common and so honourable at the Scotch bar, where 
 no prisoner has ever been tried without counsel, went 
 to Stirling and took charge of some of the defences. 
 He tells Mrs. Morehead (July 1820), " I have made 
 two long speeches, and have not spared or disgraced 
 myself ; though success was scarcely possible." 
 The thing that distinguished the proceedings in so 
 far as he personally was concerned, was, that for the 
 only occasion in his whole practice, he got into bad 
 terms with a professional brother. This brother 
 was a Serjeant, who had been sent from England to 
 keep us all right in the mysteries of English treason
 
 2G0 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Law. I believe lie was a very good man, and his 
 being charged with such a duty seems to show that 
 he was a respectable counsel. But some of those 
 who were present report that he was plainly pre- 
 possessed with very contemptuous ideas of every 
 thing Scotch, but especially of the lawyers. He 
 had no notion what Jeffrey was, and had probably 
 never heard either of him or of the Edinburgh 
 Review. His disdain was returned without cere- 
 mony. It is likely that there were faults on both 
 sides. But the fact is, that they got on very ill, and 
 were on the very edge of personal quarrel. 
 
 It was in 1820 that he had the comfort of find- 
 ing Miss Joanna Baillie reconciled to him. His 
 criticisms of her plays, though able, and even com- 
 plimentary, but not without discrimination, gave 
 not unnatural offence when they first appeared, 
 (1803), from something of apparent flippancy, or at 
 least of what a lady might suppose to be so, in 
 their style, and she long declined being introduced 
 to him. They met, however, in Edinburgh this 
 autumn, with the almost invariable result on those 
 who had a prejudice against him, of permanent re- 
 spect and esteem. He, ever after making her ac- 
 quaintance, continued her steady friend, and seldom 
 was in London without going to Hampstead to see 
 her. " We went out to Joanna Baillie yesterday, 
 and found her delightfully cheerful, kind, and 
 simple, without the least trait of the tragic muse 
 about her."— (To me, 1st April 1838). "I forgot 
 to tell you that I have been twice out to Main])-
 
 JOANNA BAILLIE. 261 
 
 stead to limit out Joanna Baillie, and found her, 
 the other day, as fresh, natural, and amiable, as 
 ever, and as little like a tragic muse. Since Mrs. 
 Brougham's death, 1 do not know so nice an old 
 
 woman."— (To Miss Brown, 28th April 1840). " We 
 went out to Hampstead, and paid a very pleasant visit 
 to Joanna Baillie, who is marvellous in health and 
 spirits, and youthful freshness and simplicity of 
 feeling - , and not a bit blind, deaf, or torpid." — (To 
 Miss Brown, January 1842). " I had a very kind 
 visit from Joanna Baillie to-day; looking beauti- 
 ful, and without a touch of blindness, deafness, or 
 languor, and now in her eightieth year." — (To me, 
 22d February 1842. u That nice Joanna Baillie 
 has also been in my neighbourhood for several days, 
 and is the prettiest, best dressed, kindest, happiest, 
 and most entire beauty, of fourscore that has been 
 seen since the flood." — (February 1842). 
 
 Towards the close of this year a public meeting 
 was held in Edinburgh, which, in reference to the 
 state of Scotland at that time, was very important, 
 and is not yet forgotten. It is known as " The 
 Pantheon Meeting" from the building within which 
 it was held. It was called in order to petition the 
 Crown for the dismissal of the ministry ; and was 
 thus not merely political, but directly hostile to 
 existing power; being the first open and respect- 
 able assemblage that had been convened in this 
 place, for such a purpose, for about twenty -five years. 
 It was meant, and was received, as a criterion of the 
 strength of the two parties of those friendly, and
 
 2C>2 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 those opposed, to reform; and there couhl be no 
 better evidence of its importance, than the fury with 
 which all connected with it were assailed. All that 1 
 have to do with it is in reference to Jeffrey. It was 
 a large and respectable assemblage, held on the 19th 
 of December 1820. Monerieff presided. The ex- 
 citement, the inexperience in the art of managing 
 such convocations, and the danger of language as 
 violent as that which had for several days been 
 directed against it, made it at first a very hazardous 
 experiment. But Jeffrey rose, and all fears vanished. 
 He made the first, and a very moderate, speech ; well 
 calculated for popular effect certainly, but which 
 would have done most men honour in a fastidious 
 parliament. It soon made the meeting take the 
 proper tone, and feel that its strength lay in avoid- 
 ing the extravagance of which it had been predicted 
 that it would be guilty. Accordingly, after carrying 
 stroiio- resolutions, with only two dissentient voices, 
 the proceedings, and the day, closed in peace. 
 
 The first official honour that he ever received, 
 was now conferred upon him by the students of the 
 College of Glasgow. They elected him their Lord 
 Rector. This officer is the second person in the es- 
 tablishment in rank, being inferior to the chancel- 
 lor alone. It is too often considered as a merely 
 honorary situation; but it has important duties, 
 and ought ns rarely as possible to be made so. In 
 academical jurisdiction, the rector is superior even 
 
 The petition \\:is Bigned l>\ aboul IT,ooo persons; the oppo- 
 site by fewer than 2000.
 
 RECTORSHIP OF GLASGOW. 263 
 
 to the chancellor. He is elected annually in No- 
 vember by the professors and the matriculated stu- 
 dents. For many years the custom had been for 
 the students not seriously to interfere; and, judging 
 from the list of the elected, the professors seem 
 to have been on wonderfully good terms with the 
 country gentlemen in their neighbourhood. Adam 
 Smith, who was chosen in 1787, was the last per- 
 son who could have been chosen on account of his 
 literary or philosophical reputation. Jeffrey, who 
 was the next, would never have been chosen in 1820 
 by the professors. But things had been begun to 
 change; of which there could not possibly be more 
 striking signs than the two facts, that these young 
 men took the election into their own hands, where 
 they have kept it ever since, and that their first 
 choice fell upon him. His having been at that 
 college himself, and having frequently attended 
 their annual distribution of prizes on the 1st of 
 May, perhaps inclined them a little towards him ; 
 but these accidents alone would never have pro- 
 duced the result. He was elected as a homage to 
 his personal literature, and to the great work with 
 which his name was associated, and to his public 
 principles and conduct. When he told us of this 
 perfectly unanticipated event, it sounded like the 
 intimation of a miracle. He went to Glasgow, and 
 was installed on the 28th of December 1820, ten 
 days after the Pantheon meeting. The novelty of 
 the occasion created great excitement. 
 
 lie made a beautiful speech; beautifully de-
 
 264 LIFE OF LOKD JEFFREY. 
 
 livered.* It delighted him to do justice to the 
 eminent men he remembered there, — Reid, Millar, 
 and Jardine, the last of whom had the gratification 
 of hearing his old pupil's address. Of himself he 
 says, u It was here that, now more than thirty 
 years ago, I received the earliest, and by far the 
 most valuable, part of my academical education; 
 and first imbibed that relish and veneration for 
 letters, which has cheered and directed the whole 
 course of my after life ; and to which, amidst all 
 the distractions of rather too busy an existence, I 
 have never failed to return with fresh and unabated 
 enjoyment. Nor is it merely by those distant and 
 pleasing recollections — by the touching retrospect 
 of those scenes of guiltless ambition and youthful 
 delight, when every thing around and before me 
 was bright with novelty and hope, that this place, 
 and all the images it recalls, are at this moment en- 
 deared to my heart. Though I have been able, I 
 fear, to do but little to honour this early nurse of my 
 studies, since I was first separated from her bosom, 
 I will yet presume to say, that I have been, during 
 all that interval, an affectionate and not an inatten- 
 tive son. For the whole of that period, I have 
 watched over her progress, and gloried in her fame. 
 And at your literary Olympics, where your prizes 
 are distributed, and the mature swarm annually 
 cast off to ply its busy task in the wider circuit of 
 
 '•■ It is the firsl in a handsome volume <>f "Inaugural His 
 .■nurses by Lords Rectors of the University of Glasgow," by John 
 Barras I [ay, published in 1 839.
 
 RECTORSHIP OF GLASGOW. 265 
 
 the world, I have generally been found a fond and 
 eager spectator of that youthful prowess in which I 
 had ceased to bea sharer, and a delighted chronicler 
 of that excellence which never ceased to be supplied." 
 He closes by this admonition — " I have but a 
 word more to say, and that is addressed, perhaps 
 needlessly, to the younger part of my hearers. It 
 would be absurd to suppose that they had not heard 
 often enough of the dignity of the studies in which 
 they are engaged, and of the infinite importance of 
 improving the time that is now allotted for their cul- 
 tivation. Such remarks, however, I think I can 
 recollect, are sometimes received with distrust, when 
 they come from those anxious teachers wdiose autho- 
 rity they may seem intended to increase ; and, there- 
 fore, I venture to think, that it may not be alto- 
 gether useless for me to add my unsuspected testi- 
 mony in behalf of those great truths ; and, while 
 I remind the careless youth around me, that the 
 successful pursuit of their present studies is indis- 
 pensable to the attainment of fame or fortune in 
 after life, also to assure them, from my own experi- 
 ence, that they have a value far beyond their subser- 
 viency to worldly prosperity ; and will supply, in 
 every situation, the purest and most permanent en- 
 joyment, at once adorning and relieving the toils 
 and vexations of a busy life, and refining and ex- 
 alting the enjoyments of a social one. It is impos- 
 sible, however', that those studies can be pursued to 
 advantage in so great an establishment as this, with- 
 out the most dutiful observance of thai discipline 
 and subordination, without which so numerous a
 
 266 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 society must unavoidably fall into the most miser- 
 able disorder, and the whole benefits of its arrange- 
 ments be lost. As one of the guardians of this 
 discipline, I cannot bid you farewell, therefore, 
 without most earnestly entreating you to submit 
 cheerfully, habitually, and gracefully, to all that 
 the parental authority of your instructors may find 
 it necessary to enjoin ; being fully persuaded, that 
 such a free and becoming submission is not only 
 the best proof of the value you put on their in- 
 structions, but, in so far as I have ever observed, 
 the most unequivocal test of a truly generous and 
 independent character." 
 
 Death has been busy since ; but of about a dozen 
 friends who accompanied him, six or seven sur- 
 vive, and remember the joyous nocturnal banquet 
 by which the formal and academical festival of this 
 installation was followed. 
 
 He was elected again, according to the usual prac- 
 tice, next year (November 1821) ; and in Novem- 
 ber 1822, had a very painful duty to discharge. 
 The electors are divided into four Nations, and it is 
 a vote by a majority of the Nations that decides 
 c;i('li election; and as a small Nation counts the 
 same with a large one, there may be a great majo- 
 rity of individual votes, while the Nations stand 
 two to two. In 1822 the persons set up were 
 Sir Walter Scott and Sir James Mackintosh. The 
 Nations were equally divided, but the majority of 
 individual votes was in favour of Sir .lames. In 
 ihis situation it devolved on the preceding rector 
 to decide. Both of (lie two chosen were eminent.
 
 PUBLIC DINNERS. 267 
 
 both Scotchmen, both his personal friends. His 
 tceliii" was to do all honour to the illustrious Sir 
 Walter. But his reason compelled him to give Ids 
 decision in favour of Mackintosh. His grounds were, 
 that though nothing could exceed the glory of 
 Scott, Mackintosh was unquestionably the more aca- 
 demical ; and that his supporters were the most 
 numerous. This last consideration has generally 
 been deemed conclusive in such an emergency. On 
 retiring he founded a prize. 
 
 Soon after his installation, he took an active par! 
 in a series of political meetings; of all of which, 
 though they went on annually for five years after 
 this (1821 to 1826 inclusive), it may be as well to 
 dispose at once. When T mention that they were 
 all public dinners, it may seem that, after such an 
 interval, they miffht have been allowed to he for- 
 gotten. But, in point of fact, they are not forgotten 
 yet, and were by far the most effective of all the 
 public movements in Scotland on the popular side, 
 at that time. Amidst the numerous similar meetings 
 that were then held all over the empire, they were 
 prominent from the numbers, the respectability, and 
 the talent, that distinguished them. They were or- 
 ganized chiefly by the method and activity of Mr. 
 Leonard Horner, the founder of our School of Arts, 
 and, indirectly, of all these institutions; one of the 
 most useful citizens that Edinburgh ever possessed. 
 They gathered together the aristocracy, in station 
 and in character, of the Scotch Whig party; hut 
 derived still greater weight from the open accession 
 of citizens, who for many years had been taught to
 
 268 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 shrink from political interference on this side, as 
 hurtful to their business. The meetings were always 
 held, as nearly as could be, on the anniversary of 
 the birth-day of Charles Fox. To some of the 
 elder, these free and open meetings were a gratifying 
 contrast to the days in which this festival was very 
 privately held ; yet rarely without there being- 
 officers and spies set to watch the door, and to take 
 down the names of those who entered — a hint which 
 only a few bolder spirits had nerve to disregard. 
 
 These were not scenes in which it was beneath 
 any man to act. Jeffrey entered into their spirit 
 and their business cordially ; and spoke at every 
 one of them ; and never did he speak any where 
 with more forethought. Nothing but a sense of duty 
 could have compelled him to adhere so steadily to 
 exhibitions, for which, in themselves, he had a 
 strong distaste. He never stooped to any topic so 
 low as that it bordered on the common vulgarities of 
 party ; but inspired his audiences by appeals to 
 general principles. These addresses were sufficient 
 of themselves to impress a character of purity and 
 dignity on each assemblage. He elevated them to- 
 wards the highest objects ; which he gave them a 
 desire to reach only by the most liberal ways. He 
 presided on the 24th of .January 1825; when he 
 perhaps displayed as much intellect and power in 
 that sort of speaking as ever sustained any one in 
 that peculiar and hazardous position. At the meet- 
 ing on the 26th of January 1826, lie was thought to 
 have surpassed himself in a speech recommending 
 candour and respect towards America. (h\ the L8th
 
 MR. ABERCROMBIE AND MR. KENNEDY. 269 
 
 of November 1825, he spoke twice at another dinner 
 given to Mr. Joseph Hume — that is, to the cause of 
 economy which that gentleman was supposed to 
 represent. One of these addresses was on behalf of 
 the Spaniards and Italians who had sought refuge 
 in Britain. The other was on the combination laws : 
 and was chiefly valuable on account of his clear and 
 eloquent explanation of the dangers and follies of 
 unions and strikes by workmen. This speed 1 was 
 published as a pamphlet, and in two or three days 
 above 8000 copies were sold. 
 
 Throughout all these movements the case of 
 Scotland was powerfully upheld by two friends of 
 his, — the Hon. James Abercrombie, afterwards 
 speaker, and now Lord Dunfermline, and Mr. Ken- 
 nedy of Dunure, M.P. ; to both of whom, amidst 
 higher calls to this duty, the fact of Jeffrey's opi- 
 nions and co-operation was a powerful additional 
 inducement to engage in the course where their 
 services were so conspicuous and valuable. 
 
 I do not know the particulars of the scheme. 
 but there was a scheme, towards the close of the 
 year 1821, to bring Jeffrey into Parliament ; which 
 he defeated by positively declining. The proposal 
 was made in confidence, and therefore he never spoke 
 of it. But on the 27th of January 1822, he wrote 
 to Mr. Wilkes, " I have had two overtures to take a 
 seat in Parliament ; but have given a peremptory re- 
 fusal — from taste as well as from prudence. I am 
 not in the least ambitious, and feel no desire to enter 
 upon public life at such a moment as the present."
 
 270 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 He was an idolater of Lochlomond, and used 
 often to withdraw there and refresh himself by its 
 beauties. After resorting for several years to inns, 
 he made the acquaintance of a gentleman (Mr. 
 M'Murick), avIio, observing the stranger's attachment 
 to the loch, and having more room in his house than 
 he required, invited him, with Mrs. Jeffrey and their 
 child, to take up their quarters, but leaving them to 
 follow their own times and ways, at his delightful 
 little residence on the lake, as often and as long as 
 they chose. This kind and considerate proposal 
 being acceded to, they went to Stuckgown in the 
 autumn of 1822. These sojourns generally lasted 
 two or three weeks, and were renewed, though not 
 exactly every year, till his daughter's marriage in 
 1838, when they ceased. Dearly did he enjoy 
 these retirements. He pretended to like even the 
 boating, and delighted in mountains, for which one 
 of his habits — an indifference about rain — was very 
 convenient. 
 
 His first retreat to Stuckgown is thus mentioned 
 in a letter to his father-in-law Mr. Wilkes : — " 22d 
 September 1822, Edinburgh — My dear friend, Here 
 we are, enjoying our autumn leisure as idly as 
 it were never to end, and as much like what we 
 were last year and the year before, and so on, as if 
 we had neither .grown older, or intended ever to 
 begin. The only thing that changes visibly is the 
 little one, who does grow bigger and dearer from year 
 to year, and makes us start to think that she was a 
 nonentity when we parted. Well, but is not this a
 
 LOCHLOMOND. 271 
 
 very good account of us, and almost all thai need be 
 said ? This royal visit kept us in a fever for a month 
 of sweet weather, and then we posted away to Loch 
 Lomond, where we staid ten days among our dear 
 
 cataracts and cliffs, and have only returned about a 
 week to our own quiet home. It rained almost even 
 day while we were in the Highlands, and most com- 
 monly all day ; hut the weather never confined either 
 Charlotte or me for an hour, and I do not think at 
 all interfered with our enjoyment. It was soft, and 
 calm, and balmy, and we walked, and rowed, and 
 climbed, and scrambled, without minding the rain 
 any more than the ravens. We were out eight or 
 nine hours every day, thoroughly wet most of the 
 time, and never experienced the least inconvenience 
 or discomfort; but came home more plump and rosy 
 than we had been since last year. The roaring of 
 the mountain torrents in a calm morning after a rain- 
 ing night has something quite delicious to my ears, 
 and actually makes a kind of music, of which you 
 dw r ellers in the plains can have no conception. 
 From the platform before our door we had twenty 
 at least in sight, and more than a hundred within 
 hearing ; and the sort of thrilling they made in the 
 air, with the mingling of the different waters on the 
 last swelling of the breeze, had an effect quite over- 
 powering and sublime. We had a few delicious days 
 on our return, v, hich was by Hamilton and the Falls 
 of Clyde ; and now we have bright crisp autumn 
 
 Of George the Fourth to Edinburgh.
 
 272 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 weather, deeply tinted foliage and great clusters of 
 holyhocks, China roses, stocks and mignonette. 
 The child was with us of course all the time, bathed 
 every day in the Loch, and went with me on the 
 barouche seat of the carriage, chattering the whole 
 way, and taking her first lessons in picturesque 
 beauty. Both she and her mother, I think, have 
 come home fatter than I remember to have seen 
 them." 
 
 Early in 1823 Mr. Wilkes came from New York 
 with his two daughters, Mrs. Colden and Miss 
 Wilkes, and Mr. Colden, on a visit to Jeffrey, and 
 to his brother-in-law Mons. Bimond at Geneva. It 
 was a grateful visit to the family at Craigcrook, and 
 to its Edinburgh friends ; who, though they have 
 never seen Mrs. Jeffrey's sisters since, have the 
 greatest pleasure in their recollection. Mr. Wilkes, 
 who died in 1833, gained every heart. There never 
 was a more loveable man. 
 
 As the American party meant to go to the Con- 
 tinent, this tempted Jeffrey to engraft an expedition 
 of his own on theirs ; and Mr. Richardson and I 
 agreed to join him. Venice was our main object ; 
 seeing as much else as we could in the short time 
 we had. We accordingly set off in July; saw Bel- 
 gium and Holland, went up the Rhine, into Switzer- 
 land, crossed by St. Gothard down upon the north 
 of Italy, and so to Venice; where we remained some 
 days; then homewards by Milan, the Simplon, 
 Geneva, and Paris. Jeffrey's journal is full of 
 dates, places, and striking observations and descrip-
 
 BOUSE OF LORDS. -J~'-\ 
 
 tions, but contains frothing worth making public. 
 It was a delightful journey. Its only defect arose 
 from his inveterate abhorrence of early rising; 
 which compelled us to travel during the hottest part 
 of the day. This aversion to the dawn, unless when 
 seen before going to bed, lasted his whole life. He 
 very seldom went to sleep so soon as two in the 
 morning, and distrusted all accounts of the early 
 rising virtues. He tells Lord Murray, in a letter in 
 1829, that he had been much pleased with a family 
 he had been visiting near Bath, " especially with 
 the patriarch, a marvellous brisk young gentleman 
 of eighty-two, who gallops up and down the country 
 in all weathers, reads without spectacles, and is 
 neither deaf, dull, nor testy. I find, to my great 
 delight, that he never rose early in his life ; though 
 I am concerned to add that he has for some years 
 been a water drinker; a vice, however, which he 
 talks of reforming." 
 
 He was in London again in 1824, upon Scotch 
 appeals; with which, indeed, his visits there were 
 very often connected. This, however, was work 
 which, notwithstanding his experience in it, he seems 
 to have liked as little as any counsel can ever like 
 to argue their own law before judges who do not 
 understand it. His practice there had hitherto been 
 almost exclusively before Lord Eldon ; who, by 
 patience, dignity, learning, and respect for the law 
 he had to dispense, and for the courts he had to 
 direct, left that House a model of the judicial quali- 
 ties by which alone its high appellate character can 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 be maintained. Yet, even the* presidency of this 
 judge, however it might mitigate, could not entirely 
 remove, the disagreeableness of addressing a court 
 considerably ignorant of the law it had to declare. 
 The mere necessity of translating terms, and of ex- 
 plaining rudiments, is teasing; and there is a far more 
 serious distress in the tendency of every foreign 
 court to respect, or to despise, whatever it may hear 
 of the law of another country, solely according to 
 its agreement with the law of their own. Before a 
 cautious and liberal judge, a comparison of systems 
 may benefit both. But with a rash or a common- 
 place judge, it is apt to be very hurtful. It leads 
 him to condemn, and to ridicule, whatever is strange 
 to his narrow vision; and covers presumption or 
 indifference under the shelter of the law within 
 which he may be respectable. Such a person, in- 
 stead of being awed by conscious ignorance into 
 modesty, naturally falls into the style of shewing 
 his superiority by openly contemning, because it is 
 foreign, the law, which it is his duty to understand, 
 or not to administer.* 
 
 * It would be a valuable law book which, omitting cases of 
 fact, or useless, should examine the past course of the appellate 
 judgments, with the view of weighing its effects, for good or for 
 evil, on the law and the practice of Scotland on points of perma- 
 nent importance. 
 
 The disposal of individual causes, however, is not the sole use 
 of a court of appeal. Its indirect influence in controlling inferior 
 tribunals is very material; and throughout the first hundred years 
 after the Union, there were circumstances in the condition of Scot- 
 land which made (his control indispensable. But an appeal now
 
 GLIMPSE OF IRELAND. 275 
 
 It added to his discomfort that the dignity of 
 that high tribunal, though the judicial uniform may 
 be dispensed with, cannot be maintained without 
 the full bar attire. He bemoans, in a letter written 
 after a day's attendance there, on this occasion, the 
 severity of being obliged to " sit six hours silent, in 
 a wig." 
 
 In 1825 he got what he calls " a glimpse of Ire- 
 land," being his only one. His friend the late Mr. 
 Mungo Brown, a person of piety and of singular 
 
 to a court not at home in the law on which the appeal depends, and 
 unaided by any Scotch lawyers, except those who may happen to 
 be at the bar, and are consequently interested, does certainly seem 
 strange ; especially as the law of England appears to tolerate no 
 rival, and its practice to be ill calculated for opening the mind to 
 the comprehension of general principles, or of any foreign system. 
 Our English friends would perhaps understand the matter better, if 
 it were proposed to make appeals competent from their courts to 
 ours, of which the principles are so much more extensively founded 
 on what seems, not merely to ourselves, but to enlightened strangers, 
 to be reason. The great problem is, to get the law of Scotland 
 deferred to in the Court of Appeal ; which in this matter is, in 
 theory, and ought to be in practice, a Scotch court. 
 
 We sometimes hear English counsel blamed for their open 
 derision of the law of Scotland at the bar of the House of Lords, 
 which it is said that they occasionally profess to feel as an abomina- 
 tion, and purify themselves (after taking fees in it), by protesting 
 that they find it difficult to speak seriously about anything so bar- 
 barous. If this charge be true, its only importance is in its appli- 
 cation to the court. Counsel seldom say what they believe will 
 offend the judges. 
 
 The proper form of obtaining judicial aid from Scotland, tchen 
 it is required, is a matter deserving great consideration ; but with 
 the example of England before us, it is not obvious how there 
 should be much difficulty.
 
 276 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 purity of character, was going to the assizes at 
 Carrickfergus, to give evidence of the Scotch mar- 
 riage law, and this seems to have been Jeffrey's 
 temptation to go and take a look of the country. 
 They left Greenock on the 25th of July, and were 
 home again on the 1st of August ; so that it was 
 truly but a glimpse. Yet they were very active, 
 and his journal is rather amusing. " One sees 
 the Irish character at once, even in this new and 
 half Scottish colony — (Belfast). The loquacity — 
 the flattery — the gaiety — the prompt, unhesitating, 
 engagement for all things — the reckless boasting — 
 the shameless failure — the audacious falsehood — 
 the entire good nature, kindness, and sociality of 
 disposition — are all apparent at the very first, and 
 do not soon cease to strike." He saw a good deal 
 of O'Connell, who is described as " Large and 
 muscular ; with an air and an eye in which a half 
 natural, and half assumed, indolent good nature 
 and simplicity is curiously blended with a kind of 
 cunning and consciousness of superiority- He spoke 
 with a great deal of brogue, and very fearlessly 
 and readily, on all subjects, — Catholic and English 
 supremacy, Irish business, law and individuals — 
 without study or apparent attention to words or 
 effect." The velocity of the criminal proceedings 
 shocked him; but he was pleased with the civil 
 trial for which Brown had gone, though less with 
 the bar than with the bench. " I heard North make a 
 speech of two and a half hours, which I under- 
 stood was a good specimen of the most ornate
 
 PROFESSORSHIP OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 277 
 
 style of speaking in Ireland. It was very ele- 
 gantly and exactly composed, but I thought puerile 
 in its style and ornaments, and singularly inju- 
 dicious and extravagant in its statement, when 
 compared with the evidence by which it was fol- 
 lowed. It was very clear, however, not very ver- 
 bose, and very pure on the whole in diction. But 
 he talked of the Catholic laws, ' Turning the torch of 
 Hymen into the black brand of Alecto ;' and told the 
 jury that if they refused to believe a witness be- 
 cause there might be ' inaccuracies and exaggerations in 
 his evidence, they might as ivell refuse to drink of the pure 
 and wholesome stream because its waters were stained by 
 the earth which composed its banks, or chafed by the rocks 
 or pebbles which broke the smoothness of its course."' 
 Jeffrey had the honour of dining with the judges 
 and the leading counsel, but gives rather a bad 
 account of the physical part of the banquet : — " no 
 napkins even, or silver forks, bad port and sherry at 
 dinner, and two bottles of bad claret after." 
 
 Political economy is so recent a science that no 
 provision for its being taught could be made by 
 the constitution of old colleges. Accordingly, it 
 was never taught in any Scotch college, except 
 by Professor Mylne at Glasgow, and by Dugald 
 Stewart, in his two short and very general courses, 
 at the beginning of this century. Having now 
 become the most important of all the practical moral 
 sciences, an effort was made during this summer 
 (1825) to obtain a Eegius Professorship for it in 
 Edinburgh, and to confer the office on Mr. John
 
 278 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 R. M'Culloch, who had already given excellent 
 lectures on this subject, and was rising into the 
 position he has attained, as the first economist of the 
 age. The scheme was at first warmly patronised 
 by Mr. Wallace, the President of the Board of 
 Trade, by Canning, Huskisson, and Lord Dudley. 
 Mr. Huskisson recommended that a memorial 
 should be got from Edinburgh, respectably, but 
 not numerously, signed, offering to endow the 
 chair, and praying the Crown' to erect it, which he 
 engaged to lay before Government. Jeffrey, who 
 took a deep interest in the affair, both from his 
 conviction of its utility, and from his regard for Mr. 
 M'Culloch, and his certainty of his friend's fitness, 
 drew up the memorial ; ° which was subscribed by 
 thirty or forty excellent names, including those of 
 five judges and twelve professors, who, " or some 
 of them," engaged to secure an adequate endow- 
 ment. But at this stage an unworthy obstacle was 
 thrown in the way from Edinburgh, and the plan 
 was defeated. 
 
 Jeffrey partook in 182G of the sorrow and con- 
 sternation of all Scotland, on the disclosure of the 
 pecuniary misfortunes of Sir Walter Scott. Mr. 
 Constable, the publisher of the Review, whose bank- 
 ruptcy produced the crash, was Jeffrey's debtor to a 
 very considerable amount on account of that work. 
 The claim, after some negotiation, was settled. But 
 even while his recovering anything seemed extremely 
 
 1 1 was afterwards published in the Scotsman newspaper, 
 27th September L826.
 
 JUDICIAL PROSPECTS. 279 
 
 doubtful, all feeling for his own loss was forgotten 
 amidst his grief for the severer ealamity that had 
 fallen upon Scott. Indeed it never disturbed his 
 serenity. Writing to Mr. Richardson, who acted as 
 usual as his professional friend in London, he says, 
 (21st January 182G) — " It is grievous to annoy you 
 with all this dull stuff, which I am happy to tell 
 you does not make me in the least unhappy. Cock- 
 burn has taken advantage of it to indite what he 
 terms a Constable dinner; to be held at my house 
 next Saturday, and to be continued weekly till I get out 
 of my difficulties" 
 
 In the year 1827 he left his house in George 
 Street, and rose to his last domicile in 24 Moray 
 Place. 
 
 His practice, which was now in its zenith, les- 
 sened his contributions to the Review, and made him 
 feverish about new writers. " Can you not lay your 
 hands on some clever young man who would write 
 for us? The original supporters of the work are 
 getting old, and either too busy, or too stupid, to go 
 on comfortably ; and here the young men are mostly 
 Tories."— (To Allen, 3d January 1825.) 
 
 During the first gleam of liberal government, 
 under Mr. Canning in 1827, Jeffrey was advised by 
 some of his English friends of influence, to try and 
 obtain a seat on the bench, if there should be a 
 vacancy. He had no objections to this u honesta 
 demissio" but adds (to me, 20th October 1827) — "I 
 had a hankering after the ' dignified ease of a Baron 
 of Exchequer' 1 ' A very natural hankering for one
 
 280 LIFE OF LORD JEFFEEY. 
 
 who merely wished for a very well-paid sinecure ; 
 but an odd conception for a person of his mental 
 activity. The possibility of some judicial promotion 
 having transpired, the fact of his connection with 
 the Eeview was whispered as an objection. He 
 asks what the exact ground of the objection is, and 
 says (to me, 1st November 1827) — "I was always 
 aware that the political character of the work, its 
 party principles, and occasional party violence, might, 
 when concentrated on the head of the only ostensible 
 party, raise an objection of moment; and for this 
 and its consequences I should not care much. But 
 it has occurred to me, I confess for the first time, 
 that the objection may be rested on the notion that 
 the Editor of a periodical work, whatever its political 
 character might be, and even if it were purely lite- 
 rary, and without any politics, had derogated from 
 the personal dignity required in a judge, and ought 
 not to presume so high. From the very first I have 
 been anxious to keep clear of any tradesman-like 
 concern in the Eeview, and to confine myself pretty 
 strictly to intercourse with gentlemen only, even as 
 contributors. It would vex me, T must own, to find 
 that, in spite of this, I have lowered my own charac- 
 ter, and perhaps even that of my profession, by my 
 connection with a publication which I certainly en- 
 gaged with on very high grounds, and have managed 
 I think, without dirtying my hands in any paltry 
 matters, [fit be so, however, I beg you will tell me; 
 not merely with a view to these present dependences, 
 but to my whole future life. But this is for talk."
 
 MEETING FOR CATHOLICS. 281 
 
 The purity of his hands was so complete, that 
 throughout all the high official honours that awaited 
 him, this objection was never heard of. However 
 disposed for judicial promotion, there were four per- 
 sons before whom, with his usual generosity, he 
 says he would not like to advance. These were 
 his friends, George Bell, Mr. Thomas Thomson, 
 John Fullerton, and myself. 
 
 On the 14th of March 1829, he came forward at 
 the last public meeting (not connected with his elec- 
 tions) that he ever attended ; and it was a magnifi- 
 cent one. It was called to petition in favour of the 
 removal of the Roman Catholic disabilities ; and 
 was composed of as many as could get into the as- 
 sembly room — which could not be much, if at all, 
 fewer than two thousand. All parties except the 
 one which wished these disabilities perpetuated, were 
 represented there, and a Conservative presided. The 
 two most impressive speeches were by Jeffrey and 
 Chalmers. Both were admirable ; but more in spirit 
 and in manner, than in any originality of thought, 
 which so hackneyed a subject scarcely admitted of. 
 Nothing could be more perfect than the exquisite 
 diction, beautiful articulation, good taste, and gener- 
 ous feeling of the one ; or the burning vehemence 
 of the other. The effect of both was very great. 
 But in a popular assembly, ardour will ever, at the 
 moment, be more impressive than grace. No more 
 
 * A shilling ought to have been paid for admittance, and about 
 1700 shillings were received at the door.
 
 282 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 powerful emotion was ever produced by words, than 
 at the close of Chalmers' address. Brilliant and 
 glowing as his written pages are, they are cold and 
 dull compared with his spoken intensity. The 
 rough broken voice, — the ungainly form, — the awk- 
 ward gesture, — the broad dingy face, — gave little 
 indication of what was beneath. But the capacious 
 brow ! — and the soul ! — mens agitat molem. 
 
 In a few months after this, an event happened 
 which ended his connection with the Beview. Mr. 
 Moncrieff, the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, 
 was raised to the bench. The Deanship is merely a 
 station of honour ; but when not lowered by the 
 interference of political, or other improper, consi- 
 derations, it is the highest honour of the kind that 
 can be conferred in Scotland. Each election is only 
 for a single year ; but he who once succeeds is almost 
 never dispossessed, so that it is the presidency for 
 life, or during the holder's pleasure, of the most im- 
 portant public body in the country. Jeffrey's friends 
 naturally looked to him as Moncrieff 's successor ; 
 and Mr. Geo. Jos. Bell seems to have written to him 
 advising him to canvass, and even to give up the 
 Review, as a canvassing step. The answer to this 
 was, — " If my friends think that a stand should now 
 be made, and that they can make their best stand 
 on me, I am willing to be stood on ; and shall be 
 honoured and gratified to be promoted or defeated 
 in their behalf. But \ think it becomes me to be 
 passive, or chiefly passive, and most certainly I shall 
 originate <>r suggest nothing in the cause. 2d, As
 
 MADE DEAN OF THE FACULTY. 283 
 
 for the Review, I have an affection for it of old, and 
 I would rather make the money I make by it, in 
 that way, than by the same quantity of work in my 
 profession. At the same time, I have perhaps done 
 it all the good I am likely to do, and the best service 
 I could now render it, probably, would be to put it 
 into younger hands. 3d, If I were sure of being- 
 made Dean by announcing that / had given up the 
 Review, I think I would do it at once. But being 
 pretty sure that I shall not be Dean, whatever I an- 
 nounce, I shall not make any such annunciation." 
 
 Accordingly, no such pledge was given. But 
 Mr. John Hope, the Solicitor-General, who had 
 been set up against him (or been proposed to be so), 
 withdrew, and on the 2d of July 1829 Jeffrey was 
 elected unanimously. He says in the preface to 
 his Contributions, that if Mr. Hope had not " gene- 
 rously deferred to my seniority, his perseverance 
 might have endangered the result." It would have 
 done more than endangered it. Considering, in 
 addition to the Solicitor's own professional emi- 
 nence, and the Conservative condition of a majority 
 of the bar, there can be little doubt that his perse- 
 verance would have prevented the result, and that 
 he might have taken the place to himself. But he 
 acted on this occasion with the liberality that had 
 marked his conduct in the previous case of Mr. 
 Moncrieff (Nov. 2d, 1826), for whose elevation to 
 the Deans chair he made the motion. He also 
 moved in favour of Jeffrey, in a kind and manly 
 speech. At Jeffrey's request, I had the honour of
 
 284 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 seconding. In his note asking me, he begs me to 
 " say as little ill of me as your conscience will let 
 you. The Solicitor means to propose me, but I 
 hope to have the countenance and a good word 
 of one at least of my old friends. I am not very 
 sure that I do wisely in asking this ; for I feel more 
 nervous in the prospect of this public ceremony 
 than I can well account for ; and though I could 
 stand the eulogies of the public accuser steadily 
 enough, I am not quite sure of being able to main- 
 tain my dignity against the testimonies that come 
 from the heart, and go to it." — (29th June 1829). 
 
 The two previous Deans, Mr. Cranstoun, and 
 Mr. Moncrieff, were strong Whigs. But they were 
 great lawyers, and were not implicated, even by one 
 single contribution, in the offences of the Eeview. 
 Jeffrey was personally guilty of many of them, 
 nd as editor, was held responsible for them all. 
 Yet he was elected. The Faculty did itself great 
 credit by this proceeding, and received great honour 
 in return. He owed his elevation to his profes- 
 sional eminence, to his literary renown, to his un- 
 divided personal popularity, and to the liberality 
 of that majority of his brethren who liked him 
 more than they disliked his political principles 
 and those of his work. It showed the improve- 
 ment of public opinion, and the softening of party 
 hatred. 
 
 " It immediately occurred to me (says he in his 
 preface), that it was not quite fitting that the official 
 bead of a great law corporation should continue to
 
 GIVES UP THE REVIEW. 285 
 
 be the conductor of what might be fairly enough 
 represented as in many respects a party journal ; 
 and I consequently withdrew at once, and alto- 
 gether, from the management." The 98th number, 
 which came out in June 1829, was the last he 
 edited ; and, excepting three or four papers which 
 he wrote long afterwards, the one on the Memoirs 
 of Lady Fanshawe, published in October 1829, was 
 the last he ever furnished as a regular contributor. 
 
 The Review then passed into the able hands of 
 its second editor, the late Mr. Macvey Napier. 
 
 He had often been advised to make a list of his 
 own contributions, but though not at all desirous of 
 concealing any of them, he treated it as a matter of 
 indifference, and never would take the trouble. I 
 was glad, therefore, when one day, in December 
 1840, I found him, on my renewing the proposal, 
 not so averse as he used to be ; and we soon 
 sat down, and began with the first number, and 
 in the course of a week or two we went through 
 the whole work, authenticating all his papers. His 
 memory rarely showed its tenacity more strikingly. 
 His recollection of the articles either wholly or 
 partially his, was so assured, that he generally 
 recognised them as soon as he saw the title. If 
 there was a doubt, it was commonly solved by 
 his mentioning, before going farther, some fact, or 
 phrase, or metaphor, or striking sentence, or some- 
 thing of this kind, and saying, — " If that be there 
 it is mine." His conjecture was almost always 
 confirmed on reading the article, both by finding
 
 286 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 the test, and by the general revival of his recol- 
 lection ; so that at last all uncertainty was re- 
 moved. This list, brought down so as to include 
 his four subsequent contributions, amounting to 
 201 articles, will be found in the Appendix. He 
 said that there might possibly be one or two mis- 
 stakes, but that he did not think that there were 
 any. 
 
 It is impossible, on thus seeing the collected 
 out-pourings of his mind, not to be struck by the 
 variety of his matter. Instead of having confined 
 himself to literature, as his prevailing taste for this 
 department has made it sometimes be supposed that 
 he did, there is scarcely a theme that he has not 
 discussed, with all his fertility of view, and all his 
 beauty of style. What other eight volumes by one 
 man, contain such writing, or such mind, on so 
 many, and so various, of the most delightful and 
 important subjects of human speculation? 
 
 On closing the labours of these twenty-seven 
 years, he had a career to look back upon such as 
 never elevated the heart of any one who had in- 
 structed the public by periodical address. It is not 
 my business to review the Review ; and I am con- 
 scious of incapacity to do it. But it is not very 
 difficult to state the grounds on which I think that 
 this was a splendid retrospect. 
 
 Independent of special objections to particular 
 articles, the general censures to which the work was 
 exposed were the same in 1829 that they were as 
 soon as its character and objects were disclosed.
 
 EFFECTS OF THE REVIEW. 287 
 
 And certainly it was not for want of warning that 
 what were said to be its errors were persevered in. 
 Its enemies, for several years, found great comfort 
 in its abuse ; which they vented in streams of pamph- 
 lets that make curious reading now. Instead of 
 practising the moderation and candour, the absence 
 of which from the Review is their great complaint, 
 they almost uniformly exceed, by a hundred fold, 
 most of the offences which they ascribe to it. But 
 they are generally kind enough to admonish the 
 wicked editor of the disgrace into which he is fall- 
 ing in the sight of all good men, and of the speedy 
 extinction of his abominable work. Except in the 
 case of the Earl of Lauderdale, I am not aware that 
 any answer was ever made to any of these fulmina- 
 tions, beyond an explanatory page or two in the 
 Review itself. 
 
 The favourite censure was of the Review's seve- 
 rity ; in which it was said to have a sincerity and a 
 flippancy, which shewed that condemnation was its 
 enjoyment-, and that its authors sought for distinc- 
 tion, not in the discovery and encouragement of 
 merit, but in the detection and exposure of defects ; 
 and that, while rioting in the delight of their power, 
 the interests of the victim were disregarded, and 
 that his agonies only enhanced the ridicule under 
 which he suffered. 
 
 This charge is not altogether groundless ; but 
 the fault is one that adheres naturally to the position 
 of a reviewer. 
 
 There 1 is no offence to an author greater than the
 
 288 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 seeming contempt of silence, and therefore the very 
 act of publishing is a petition for notice. And the 
 critic, thus invited, assumes the censor's chair, 
 and, concealed, has to examine, and to announce, 
 the character of every book that stands before him 
 for its doom. If the journal be in the hands of men 
 skilled in the analytical art, the reviewer, who. has 
 the advantage of coming last, is often better ac- 
 quainted with the matter of the book than its author ; 
 insomuch that, in many cases, the criticism is the 
 abler work of the two. And it is always tolerably 
 certain that there are many more who will, at first, 
 take their opinions idly from the journal, rather 
 than from the more laborious study of the original 
 book. Thus, both from his situation and his talent, 
 the critic, unless he be of a singularly considerate 
 temperament, and on a very cool subject, naturally 
 imbibes feelings of conscious superiority, not favour- 
 able to the exercise of candid judgment. Confidence 
 in his own opinion, and thoughtlessness as to the 
 sensations of authors, especially when he has really 
 no desire to hurt them, are nearly inseparable from 
 his position ; and this tendency is immensely in- 
 creased by the number of the occasions on which 
 severity, and even scorn, are absolute duties. Then, 
 it does so happen that all human censors do prefer 
 the discovery of faults. Excellence is more easily 
 found out; and it leads to mere praise. But he 
 who detects a fault, shews his superiority, at least 
 to him who committed it ; and its being a fault, 
 seems to confer a freer license of exposure. The
 
 CHARACTER OF THE REVIEW. 289 
 
 critic therefore makes the most of it, not for the 
 satisfaction of tormenting, but for the luxury of 
 exercising his skill in that science, of which sar- 
 casm and derision arc the most popular displays. 
 Blaming and exposing become arts; in which it is 
 very tempting to excel ; and for which readers are 
 ready to pay more than for better matter. Different 
 critics fall into this habit in different veins, and 
 under different feelings. When Jeffrey gave way 
 to it, it was generally from mere lightness of spirit. 
 Totally devoid of ill nature, and utterly unconscious 
 of any desire to hurt, he handled the book as a thing 
 to be played with ; without duly considering that 
 the gay and moral pleasantry of Horace might pro- 
 duce as much distress as the declamatory weight of 
 Juvenal. These critical vivacities, however unfor- 
 tunate, being the natural tendencies of the reviewer's 
 situation, the true question, in appreciating this part 
 of the character of a critical work, is, as to the excess 
 in which the tendency has been indulged ? 
 
 The answer to this question, in the case of the 
 Edinburgh Review, is triumphant. 
 
 In spite of all its severity, there is no work of 
 the kind where applause has been conferred more 
 generously, or with more valuable illustrations of 
 its grounds. Where else will the merits of the great 
 writers, the great inventors, the great patriots, or 
 the great philanthropists, who shone during these 
 twenty-seven years, be found by future ages so 
 enthusiastically recorded? Detached expressions or 
 opinions may be objected to; but, on the whole, the 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 290 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 admirers of sucli eminence can found on no such 
 powerful and judicious praise. If this be the fact, 
 a work dedicated to the examination of the publica- 
 tions of the passing day, and consequently conducted 
 under all the passing influences, may submit to the. 
 blame of occasional asperity. The Edinburgh Re- 
 view incurred this blame at its outset, because its 
 tone was new ; and because, contrasted with the 
 placid dotage of its predecessors, it was strong. 
 But in time discussion showed its necessities, and 
 supplied a decisive standard by which the supposed 
 cruelty of this journal may be judged of. Other 
 journals arose. Which of them have been less cruel? 
 Which of them has exhibited the virtues for the ivant of 
 ivhich the Edinburgh Review was blamed? Which of 
 them has not surpassed it in all the iniquities of its justice ? 
 Which of them has practised less the art of giving pain ? 
 
 The literary and scientific errors of the work were 
 sometimes accounted for by being ascribed to the 
 personal antipathies of the editor, and its political 
 ones to his anxiety, from selfishness, to serve the 
 Whig party. These being charges of unkindness 
 and dishonesty, may be safely left to the refutation 
 afforded by the editor's character. Deducting the 
 ordinary mistakes arid exaggerations inseparable 
 from warm discussion, he never published one sen- 
 tence of liis own that did not express his sincere 
 opinion at the time. Had he any personal unkind- 
 ness towards Sir Walter ! Yet whose poetry did he 
 review with less of the partiality of a friend. How 
 many books written by persons he disliked were put
 
 CHARACTEB OF THE REVIEW. 29] 
 
 into his crucible, yet came out all the brighter for 
 his illustration of their merits? If the hope of per- 
 sonal advantage had affected his political writing, 
 his clear course would have been to have given up 
 the Review, or to have softened its tone. Nothing 
 could he so bad for his personal interest, even as a 
 politician, as what he did. 
 
 Of the charges against Jeffrey personally, none 
 was more absurd or proclaimed with greater perse- 
 verance, than his treatment of the Lake Poets ; whom 
 he was said to have persecuted with ungener- 
 ous obstinacy. No answer to this can be more 
 graceful or effective than his own — " I have in my 
 time said petulant and provoking things of Mr. 
 Southey, and such as I would not say now. But I 
 am not conscious that I was ever unfair to his poetry; 
 and if I have noted what I thought its faults in too 
 arrogant and derisive a spirit, I think I have never 
 failed to give hearty and cordial praise to its beau- 
 ties — and generally dwelt much more largely on the 
 latter than the former. Few things, at all events, 
 would now grieve me more than to think I might 
 give pain to his many friends and admirers, by re- 
 printing, so soon after his death, any thing which 
 might appear derogatory either to his character or 
 his genius ; and therefore, though I cannot say that 
 I have substantially changed any of the opinions I 
 have formerly expressed as to his writings, I only 
 insert in this publication my review of his last con- 
 siderable poem, which may be taken as conveying 
 my matured opinion of his merits — and will be felt,
 
 292 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 I trust, to have done no scanty or unwilling justice 
 to his great and peculiar powers." — (Contributions, 
 vol. iii. p. 133.) 
 
 " I have spoken in many places rather too bitterly 
 and confidently of the faults of Mr. Wordsworth's 
 poetry ; and forgetting that, even on my own view 
 of them, they were but faults of taste, or venial self- 
 partiality, have sometimes visited them, I fear, with 
 an asperity which should be reserved for objects of 
 moral reprobation. If I were now to deal with the 
 whole question of his poetical merits, though my 
 judgment might not be substantially different, I hope 
 I should repress the greater part of these vivacities 
 of expression ; and indeed so strong has been my 
 feeling in this way, that considering how much I 
 have always loved many of the attributes of his 
 genius, and how entirely I respect his character, it 
 did at first occur to me whether it was quite fitting 
 that, in my old age and his, I should include in this 
 publication any of those critiques which may have 
 formerly given pain or offence to him or his ad- 
 mirers. But when I reflected that the mischief, if 
 there really ever was any, was long ago done, and 
 that I still retain, in substance, the opinions which I 
 should now like to have more gently expressed, I 
 felt that to omit all notice of them on the present 
 occasion, might be held to import a retractation 
 which I am as far as possible from intending; or 
 even be represented as a very shabby way of 
 backing out of sentiments which should either be 
 manfully persisted in, or openly renounced, and
 
 CHARACTER OF THE REVIEW. 293 
 
 abandoned as untenable." — (Contributions, vol. iii. 
 p. 233.) 
 
 Since, in the eases of these two most eminent of 
 the school, he regrets his occasional unguardedness 
 of language, but retains his opinions, the only thing 
 to be considered is, whether the opinions be sound? 
 This, however, is a mere matter of taste. But sup- 
 posing them to be unsound, it is absolutely ludicrous 
 to say that his errors are so gross as to imply un- 
 kindness, — which is the principal part of the charge. 
 Where is the best stated praise of what is good in 
 these poets to be found? Unquestionably in the 
 Edinburgh Review. Accompanied, no doubt, with 
 severe condemnation of their supposed faults. But 
 is it not a fact, that, in so far as continued circula- 
 tion is a criterion of permanent excellence, time is 
 every day confirming almost all his poetical judg- 
 ments? and particularly his judgments on the Lake 
 Poets ? South ey himself anticipates the day in 
 which his admirers, though the wisest, are scarcelv 
 to exceed a dozen. What poet ivhom, Jeffrey con- 
 demns, continues a favourite with the public, except in 
 the ivorh, or in the passages, or in the qualities, ivhich he 
 applauds ? 
 
 The hatred of the political opinions of the work, 
 is, in its original intensity, scarcely comprehensible 
 now. The present age thinks with composure of 
 such things as Catholic Emancipation and Parlia- 
 mentary Reform, because they are settled. But 
 forty years ago they were dreams ; — favourite visions 
 with philosophers 5 — but not within the horizon of
 
 294 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 any practical imagination. When those, therefore, 
 •whose ascendancy, or whose conceptions of public 
 tranquillity, were involved in the unquestioning 
 belief that whatever was was right, saw their ark 
 touched, they were struck with horror, and could 
 impute what alarmed them to nothing but wicked- 
 ness and intentional mischief. In these circum- 
 stances no prudence could have disarmed hostility. 
 But, in place of uniform prudence, there did occur 
 those occasional indiscretions, without which what 
 periodical criticism of living things will ever be 
 conducted? The irritability of authors, the terrors 
 of honest Toryism, and the devotion of churches to 
 themselves, might all have been sometimes more 
 gently treated. Indifference to the prejudices of these 
 parties raised more angry enemies to the Review than 
 were raised by the deeper offences of its doctrines. 
 
 Its political offences all resolve into its despair 
 of the war, and its recommendation of popular and 
 economical reforms. It would be idle to answer 
 objections which merely amount to this, that the 
 objectors differ from the party objected to. For 
 every man by whom the public opinions of the 
 Edinburgh Review were condemned, there was one 
 other man, if not ten, by whom they were ap- 
 plauded. Discounting zealots on both sides, and 
 appealing to those of impartial judgment, the great 
 majority will concur in regretting occasional error, 
 but in admiring general wisdom; and in acknow- 
 ledging that the political improprieties of the Re- 
 view were only such as always adhere to contro-
 
 CHARACTER OF THE REVIEW. 295 
 
 versy, and that no part)- work ever urged its views 
 with greater intelligence and purity. Since the 
 editor and his associates thought the war hope! 
 it was their duty to do what they could by argu- 
 ment, to convince the public that it ought to be 
 brought to a close. Their opinion was that of many 
 of the wisest men, and the best patriots, that we 
 had. They must be judged of as at the time, and 
 not after the bubble of Napoleon's ambition burst 
 by its own expansion. Since they believed that the 
 success of the Whigs was necessary for the safety 
 of the country, ought they to have concealed this 
 conviction, instead of advancing and anticipating 
 the wisdom of coming parliaments? 
 
 In judging of the value of all such charges, as 
 against the editor of a review, too little consideration 
 is commonly given to the very peculiar position that 
 he occupies. He is responsible for all that the work 
 may contain, in certain senses, and to certain effects ; 
 but not at all in the same way that any honourable 
 writer is for what he gives forth as his own compo- 
 sition, and as the expression of his own thoughts. 
 No editor, depending on the co-operation of nume- 
 rous contributors, can be so. For even as control- 
 ling others, though armed with a pretty strong dis- 
 cretion, he is never altogether absolute. " We are 
 growing (to Horner, 20th July 1810) too factions. 
 I admit it, and it mortifies me as much as any one 
 to think that we are. But you judge rightly of my 
 limited power, and of the overgrown privileges of 
 some of my subjects. I am but a feudal monarch
 
 296 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 at best, and my throne is overshadowed by the pre- 
 sumptuous crests of my nobles. However, I issue 
 laudable edicts, inculcating moderation and candour, 
 and hope in time to do some little good. A certain 
 spice of aristocracy in my own nature withholds 
 me from the common expedient of strengthening 
 myself by a closer union with the lower orders ; but 
 I would give a great deal for a few chieftains of a 
 milder and more disciplined character." 
 
 Bating these slight exceptions, we can only esti- 
 mate our permanent obligations to the Edinburgh 
 Keview, when Jeffrey retired from it, by placing 
 ourselves on the eminence of 1829, and looking back 
 on the space between that point and the month of 
 October 1802. It is nearly impossible even to count 
 the useful intervening changes. A few of the more 
 material ones stand out, and will for ever display 
 themselves, as the great marks that attest the pro- 
 gress of the age. In 1802, dread of the people, and 
 a stern resistance of improvement, because it implied 
 change, were the necessary, and often the only, 
 qualifications for favour with the party in possession 
 of power. The rights of religious toleration were 
 so little understood, that several millions of the 
 population were subjected, on account of their creed, 
 or their forms, to various .important disabilities. 
 We traded in human beings, under the protection of 
 a great party, and of the law. Popular education 
 was so utterly unknown to England, that the igno- 
 rance of the Lower orders was considered as a posi- 
 tive recommendation. Ireland was in a state of
 
 EFFECTS OF THE REVIEW , 297 
 
 disorderly barbarism ; and, because it was peopled 
 by Papists, this was thought its natural and its 
 deserved condition. There was much hardness or 
 indifference in public opinion; shewing itself parti- 
 cularly in the severity of our dealings with all we 
 had to punish or control, — the sailor or soldier, the 
 criminal, the insolvent, the lunatic, and the young. 
 The foundations of many parts of our public policy 
 were hollow; or, where solid, what had been raised 
 upon them was unsound; so that facility of revision 
 was what was required; yet these defects were ex- 
 actly what were successfully maintained to be the 
 best parts of our policy. The mere elements of 
 political economy were very sparingly known, ex- 
 cept to a very small class. Some of the physical 
 sciences, such as geology, were only arising, and all 
 of them admitted of great improvement. The lite- 
 rary horizon was but beginning to glow with the 
 brilliancy of its later great era. The public mind 
 was in the bud ; but, if not cherished, the blossom 
 and the fruit might have been destroyed, or long 
 delayed. 
 
 In the year 1829, all this was altered or miti- 
 gated. The alteration from youth to manhood, in 
 an individual, is not more complete than the change 
 that had taken place in the nation. That miserable 
 horror of change, which must in time reduce any 
 country to idiocy, was duly abated; and novelty, 
 though it never of itself became a recommendation, 
 ceased to he a reproach, and conclusive. 'Flic Pro- 
 testant dissenter and the Papist were emancipated.
 
 298 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Nothing effectual was yet done for popular educa- 
 tion ; but the existing evil had been exposed ; and 
 we heard little of the praises of ignorance. The 
 sad insanities of Ireland, which may still baffle 
 a century of sound legislation, were not cured ; but 
 the folly of dealing with that as a doomed island, 
 and the duty of trying to relieve its miseries, though 
 self-inflicted, by justice and prudence, and the hope 
 of the ultimate success of wise measures even on 
 that people, came to be the habitual sentiments of 
 parliaments and of public men. Our great crime of 
 slavery was put down ; and the many curses by 
 which it will ever revenge itself upon any people 
 that practise it were avoided. The light was ad- 
 mitted into many abuses, and many defects, in many 
 parts of our polity, not excepting the fiscal and the 
 legal, the most inscrutable and the best guarded of 
 them all. The heart of the nation was softened. 
 All the haunts, whether of penal or corrective con- 
 trol, of innocent or of guilty misery, were reformed 
 by that pity which would have entered them in 
 vain, but for the improved humanity of the age 
 Commercial and kindred questions came to be 
 solved by an application of the economical science 
 to which they belong, and which lost by discussion 
 much of its mystery, and became familiar to the 
 ordinary thoughts of ordinary people. That exten- 
 sion of the elective franchise, without which it now 
 seems certain that revolution could not have been 
 long delayed, had not actually taken place; but it 
 was close at hand. Campbell, Crabbe, Southey,
 
 EFFECTS OF THE REVIEW. 299 
 
 Scott, Byron, Monro, and Wordsworth, bad risen, 
 and shone, and nearly passed away. But not till the 
 true principles of poetical composition had been 
 examined and applied to each. There never was a 
 period in which such numerous and splendid contri- 
 butions, moral and physical, were made to the 
 treasury of public knowledge; and all of these 
 were now discussed with no general and feeble ex- 
 pressions of praise or of blame, but with a degree 
 of independence and talent, entering into the very 
 heart of the matter, that gave people of all sides an 
 assurance of being adequately instructed. 
 
 If there be a person who thinks that the condi- 
 tion of the people, and of our institutions and system, 
 was better in 1802 than in 1829, and who, eonse- 
 cpiently, if he could, would go back to the earlier 
 period, that person, of course, can feel no gratitude 
 to the Edinburgh Eeview. But whoever exults in 
 the dropping away of so many fetters, and in the 
 improvement of so many parts of our economy, and 
 in the general elevation of the public mind, must 
 connect all these with the energy and intelligence of 
 this journal. Not that many of these changes, or 
 perhaps all of them, would not have taken place 
 although this work had never existed ; for, to a cer- 
 tain extent, they arose naturally out of the advance 
 of a free community. But they certainly would not 
 have occurred so soon, or so safely. There is scarcely 
 one abuse that has been overthrown, which, sup- 
 ported as every one was, might not have still sur- 
 vived, uor a right principle that has been adopted
 
 300 LIFE OF LOED JEFFEEY. 
 
 which might not have been dangerously delayed, had 
 it not been for the well-timed vigour and ability of 
 this Review. It was the established champion of 
 the measures, and principles, and feelings, that have 
 prevailed ; and the glory of the victory cannot be 
 withheld from the power that prepared the warriors 
 who fought the battle. 
 
 It was not merely that the journal expounded and 
 defended right principles and objects. Its preroga- 
 tive was higher. It taught the public to think. It 
 opened the people's eyes. It gave them, periodically, 
 the most animated and profound discussions on every 
 interesting subject, that the greatest intellects in the 
 kingdom could supply. The mere mention of the 
 names of a few of those who addressed the public 
 through this organ, during Jeffrey's editorship, is of 
 itself sufficient to attest the hiodi character of the in- 
 struction given, and to guarantee its safety. How 
 could a periodical work be but magnificent, of which 
 it could be said that it was carried on by such men 
 as the following, all in the full force of their powers, 
 and each zealous on his favourite subject, viz.: — 
 Jeffrey, Smith, Horner, Brougham, Thomas Brown, 
 Walter Scott, John Play fair, Hallam, Malcolm 
 Laing, George Ellis, Wilberforce, Lord Melbourne, 
 John Allen, Coleridge, Malthus, Payne Knight, 
 Professor Lesley, I ). Mackintosh, Daniel Ellis, Moore, 
 Dr. .John Gordon, Palgrave, Leigh Hunt, Homily, 
 Foscolo, \h\ Chalmers, Professor Wilson, J. E. 
 Macculloch, Empson, Dr. Arnold, Sir William Ha- 
 milton, Macaulay, Carlyle, Holier! Grant, Hazzlit, 

 
 EFFECTS OF THE REVIEW. 301 
 
 Alexr. (Sanscrit) Hamilton, Thomas Campbell, Peter 
 Elmsley, Phillimore, James Mill, Macvey Napier, 
 Chenevix, Bloomfield, Sir 11. Parnell, General Wil- 
 liam Napier. Many other bright stars might be 
 
 added; but the sky that blazes with these constella- 
 tions is bright enough. Their influence in illu- 
 minating the age may be ascertained by every man 
 for himself. Let any regular reader of this Review 
 recollect, and say how many of his opinions, and of 
 the reasons for them, were formed from its successive 
 articles; and how largely the feelings and principles 
 that he now owns were breathed into him by its 
 general spirit. 
 
 Thus the He view soared, from the very first, in- 
 to a higher region, and became itself the principal 
 work of the day. And while none of the successors 
 it produced have found it expedient to avoid its 
 form or its professional principles, all of them have 
 prospered or failed just according to the success 
 with which they have imitated its talent and inde- 
 pendence. Read with admiration in every spot 
 where English is known, it was crowned by the 
 only remaining honour of being proscribed by 
 every government to which free inquiry was dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 Jeffrey's value as Editor was incalculable. He 
 had not only to revise and arrange eaeli number 
 alter its parts were brought together, but before he 
 got this length, he, like any other person in that 
 situation, had much difficult and delicate work to 
 perform. lie had to discover, and to train, an-
 
 302 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 thors; to discern what truth and the public mind 
 required; to suggest subjects; to reject, and, more 
 offensive still, to improve, contributions ; to keep 
 down absurdities ; to infuse spirit ; to excite the 
 timid; to repress violence ; to soothe jealousies ; to 
 quell mutinies ; to watch times ; and all this in the 
 morning of the reviewing day, before experience 
 had taught editors conciliatory firmness, and contri- 
 butors reasonable submission. He directed and 
 controlled the elements he presided over with a 
 master's judgment. There was not one of his asso- 
 ciates who could have even held these elements to- 
 gether for a single year. The merit of getting so 
 many writers to forego the ordinary jealousies of 
 authors and of parties, and to write invisibly, and 
 without the fame of individual and avowed publica- 
 tion, in the promotion of a work made up of uncon- 
 nected portions, and assailed by such fierce and 
 various hostility, is due to him entirely. He ac- 
 quired it by his capacity of discussing almost any 
 subject, in a conciliatory spirit, with almost any 
 author; by the wisdom with which his authority 
 was exercised; by the infusion of his personal kind- 
 ness into his official intercourse; and his liberal and 
 gentlemanlike demeanour. Inferior to these excel- 
 lences, but still important, was his dexterity in re- 
 vising the writings of others. Without altering the 
 genera] tone or character of the composition, he had 
 great skill in leaving out defective ideas or words, 
 and in so aiding the original by lively or graceful 
 touches, that reasonable authors were surprised and
 
 EFFECTS OF THE REVIEW. 603 
 
 charmed on seeing how much better they looked 
 
 than they thought they would. 
 
 As a writer, his. merits were of the very highest 
 order. It may be doubted if there he a critical 
 work iu the English language, including such a 
 variety of subject, superior to his Selected Contribu- 
 tions. But these are not nearly one half of what 
 he gave the Review, and many of his finest articles 
 are omitted. The general peculiarities of his pro- 
 ductions are to be found in their reasoning wisdom, 
 and their graceful composition. Amidst all the en- 
 lightened minds, and all the powerful writers, around 
 him, lie never fails to shine so brightly, that there 
 is no other person the extinction of whose contribu- 
 tions would so deeply alter the character of the 
 work. Whatever influence it had upon the age, 
 that influence is to be more ascribed to him than to 
 any other individual connected with it. This was 
 not the result of his genius alone. The most grati- 
 fying part of his triumph is to be ascribed to his 
 taste for happiness and goodness, and his love of 
 promoting them. How delightful, because how 
 true, is the statement of the feelings with which, 
 after an interval of fourteen years from his retire- 
 ment, he looks back on the object and the tendency 
 of his personal contributions. "If I might be per- 
 mitted farther to state, in what particular depart- 
 ment, and generally on account of what I should 
 most wish to claim a share of those merits, 1 should 
 certainly say that it was by having constantly en- 
 deavoured to combine ethical precepts with literary
 
 304 LIFE OF LOPvD JEFFREY. 
 
 criticism, and earnestly sought to impress my readers 
 with a sense, both of the close connection between 
 sound intellectual attainments, and the higher ele- 
 ments of duty and enjoyment; and of the just and 
 ultimate subordination of the former to the latter. 
 The praise, in short, to which I aspire, and to merit 
 which I am conscious that my efforts were most 
 constantly directed, is, that I have, more uniformly 
 and earnestly than any preceding critic, made the 
 moral tendencies of the works under consideration 
 a leading subject of discussion, and neglected no 
 opportunity, in reviews of poems and novels, as well 
 as of graver productions, of elucidating the true 
 constituents of human happiness and virtue ; and 
 combating those besetting prejudices and errors 
 of opinion which appear so often to withhold men 
 from the path of their duty, or to array them in 
 foolish and fatal hostility to each other. I cannot, 
 of course, do more, in this place, than intimate this 
 proud claim. But for the proof, or at least the ex- 
 planation of it, I think I may venture to refer to the 
 greater part of the papers that follow." — (Preface to 
 the Contributions). 
 
 I return from this (too long) digression, to the 
 narrative of the facts of his life. 
 
 There was no educational establishment, except 
 those for the education of the poor, in which he 
 took a greater interest than in the Edinburgh Aca- 
 demy. This is a proprietary day school, instituted 
 with the view of raising the quality and the tone 
 of education, in its higher branches, for boys of all
 
 LORD-ADVOCATE. 305 
 
 classes. Jr was opened in 182 ! ; Sir Harry Moncrieff 
 invoking the Divine aid, and Sir Walter Scott, and 
 Mr. Henry Mackenzie senior, the patriarch of Scottish 
 literature, addressing the assemblage. It had long 
 the benefit of the powerful head-mastership of the 
 Archdeacon .John Williams, who now presides over 
 the establishment at Llandovery; and it at pre- 
 sent flourishes under the charge of the Rev. John 
 Hannah of Oxford. It has realised all the ex- 
 pectations of its founders; and, besides, being in- 
 disputably the best school in this country, it has 
 indirectly improved all the other schools of the 
 same class. If a correct account were taken, it 
 would probably be found that, independently of 
 other colleges, more of its pupils have gained 
 honours at Oxford and Cambridge, than all the 
 pupils of all the other schools in Scotland since the 
 Edinburgh Academy began. Jeffrey was one of the 
 original proprietors, and afterwards a director; and 
 on the 30th of July 1830 he presided, and delivered 
 the prizes, at the annual exhibition. No addresses 
 to boys could be marked by better judgment, or 
 better feelings, than those delivered by him on this 
 occasion. Thoroughly acquainted with their minds, 
 he said everything that could rouse and direct their 
 ambition. 
 
 Relieved of the anxious and incessant labour of 
 the Review, he expected that what remained of his 
 life would be passed in comparative repose. But in 
 December 1830, the Whigs came into office, and he, 
 by pre-eminence, was appointed Lord Advocate 
 
 vol. i. x
 
 306 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 This, in one unexpected moment, changed his whole 
 habits, prospects, and avocations. He had hitherto 
 lived entirely in Edinburgh, or its neighbourhood, 
 enjoying his fame and popularity Avith his private 
 friends, — an honourable and happy life. But he 
 had now to interrupt his profession ; to go into Par- 
 liament at alarming pecuniary risk ; to forego the 
 paradise of Craigcrook, and his delicious vacations ; 
 to pass many weary months, and these summer ones, 
 in London ; to be no longer the easy critic of mea- 
 sures, but their responsible conductor ; and to be 
 involved, without official training, in all the vexa- 
 tions of official business. These calamities he would 
 have avoided if he could. But being assured that 
 his party and the public were concerned, he sub- 
 mitted. After stating the dangers of his new situa- 
 tion to his niece, Miss Brown, he adds, " Now 1 do 
 not say this in the way of whining, but only to let 
 you see how good reason I have for being sincerely 
 sick and sorry at an elevation for which so many 
 people are envying, and thinking me the luckiest 
 and most elevated of mortals for having attained." 
 —(3d December 1830.) 
 
 He makes in this letter, another very natural re- 
 flection, — " Will you not come to see us before we 
 go? You will find me glorious in a flounced silk 
 gown, and long cravat, — sending men to the gallows, 
 and persecuting smugglers for penalties, — and every 
 day in a wig, and most days with buckles on my 
 shoes! I wisli my father had Lived to see this, — 
 chiefly I hope, tor the pleasure it would have given
 
 LORD-ADVOCATE. 307 
 
 him, but partly too, I will avow, for the triumph I 
 should have had over all his sad predictions of the 
 ruin I was bringing on my prospects by my Whig 
 
 politics, and of the hitter repentance ] should one 
 day feel for not following his Tory directions — 
 though it was hut a hazard after all; and he had a 
 fair chance of being right, as to worldly matters at 
 least; — and so good night." 
 
 There is no situation native to Scotland of greater 
 trust or dignity than that of Lord-Advocate. Yet, 
 as it is dealt with, it is not an office that a sensible 
 man, considering his own interest alone, would desire 
 to have. In so far as each is the leg-al adviser of 
 the crown in their respective countries, the Lord- 
 Advocate is in Scotland something like the Attomev- 
 ( General in England. But, practically, their positions 
 are very different. The total official emoluments of 
 the Lord-Advocate are, on an average, not above 
 £3000 a-year ; in addition to which, his only other 
 reward, or hope of reward, consists in the chance of 
 judicial promotion. His direct patronage is ex- 
 ceedingly slender, and for the patron, p'atronage is 
 more of a torture than of a reward. For these 
 considerations, he has to obtain a seat, or seats, in 
 Parliament ; which, between December 1830 and 
 May L832, cost Jeffrey about £10,000. Then he 
 has to go to London, and to return so often, or to 
 remain so long, that his practice is greatly injured, 
 and generally extinguished. And as there is no 
 Scotch Secretary, and Scotch matters, however 
 simple, are very apt to be taken up as mysteries by
 
 308 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 those avIiu do not choose to understand them, the 
 general business of the country is thrown upon the 
 Lord-Advocate, to an extent that, if attempted to- 
 wards an Attorney-General, would quash him in a 
 week. Horner says truly (in 1804), that the Lord- 
 Advocate, " in the management of elections, and 
 General Assemblies, and town-councils, &c, has 
 been hitherto no better than a sub-clerk in the 
 Treasury," — which he is of opinion was an unneces- 
 sary degradation. — (Memoirs, i. 269.) And this is 
 not only the use to which the Lord-Advocate is still 
 far too much applied by Government ; but every 
 other party fancies that he is entitled to use him in 
 the same way ; and to hold him responsible, beyond 
 his correct legal line, not only for the measures that 
 he promotes, but for those that he opposes. If duly 
 supported by his masters, he might withstand all 
 this. But they, commonly knowing and caring little 
 about the matter, have seldom much scruple in con- 
 sulting their own comforts, and in trying to conciliate 
 members, by the sacrifice of their own officer ; who 
 cannot defend himself or his measure as an inde- 
 pendent man, but must speak or be silent according 
 to orders. The root of all this discord, vexation, 
 and inefficiency, lies in expecting a professional 
 gentleman not only to conduct affairs to which he 
 has been accustomed, t nit to begin to act suddenly 
 as a statesman, in matters to which he is necessarily 
 new. This might have passed formerly, when there 
 was very little Scotch public business, and the people 
 were nobody, and the principle was, no change;
 
 LORD-ADVOCATE. 309 
 
 but it is absurd now. It has long- been complained 
 of by the people of this country, that no attention is 
 bestowed on Scotch measures by Parliament. This 
 complaint is just. The evil arises partly from the 
 ignorance of the Houses of what any thing Scotch 
 means, and partly from their indifference about any 
 thing desired by a portion of the empire that is too 
 small and too quiet to create alarm; but still more, 
 from the almost ostentatious disregard by Govern- 
 ment of matters which, at the worst, can only cause 
 a small and momentary mutiny among fifty-three 
 not loquacious members. The only remedy is, the 
 appointment of some person, probably holding an- 
 other office, to manage the general, apart from the 
 legal, affairs of the country, avowedly and responsi- 
 bly; or, if this duty be kept upon the Lord-Advocate, 
 to give him due support, and far more authority. As 
 it is, if an eminent lawyer, without parliamentary 
 ambition, and with no taste for sweltering in London, 
 but making a respectable income, and living at home 
 in peace, wishes to be sleepless all night, and hot 
 all day, and not half so useful as he might be, let him 
 become Lord-Advocate. The evil is aggravated by 
 the consideration that the performance of his proper 
 duties alone, while it would give ample occupation, 
 would be agreeable and important. In addition to 
 his being the legal adviser of the crown and of Go- 
 vernment, no man can be idle who takes the manage- 
 ment of our whole criminal business; provided it 
 
 be continued to be managed so as to exhibit a con- 
 
 « 
 
 elusive precedent, and a model, for taking the duty
 
 310 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 of penal prosecution out of the Lands of inferior 
 officers and interested private parties, and commit- 
 ting it to the charge of a high and responsible 
 public accuser. In August 1832, Jeffrey had a con- 
 ference with the late Earl Grey, then Prime Minister, 
 in which, as Jeffrey states it, his lordship " pro- 
 mised to make some arrangement for relieving my 
 office of a great part of its political duties, and re- 
 ducing it to its true legal character, and something 
 is even in progress for the practical accomplishment 
 of this." But to this hour nothing has been done. 
 
 He was of opinion that, in the particular circum- 
 stances of the Scotch Bar, where there are few offi- 
 cial honours, the situations of Dean and of Lord 
 Advocate, or Solicitor-General, should not be mono- 
 polised by one person. Acting on this principle, he 
 resigned the Deanship — which, on the 17th of De- 
 cember 1831, was conferred on Mr. Hope, who had 
 so handsomely forgone his claim on the previous 
 vacancy. 
 
 Jeffrey was fortunate in this, that when lie came 
 upon the parliamentary stage, he was not, at first, 
 distracted by variety or perplexity of objects. For 
 upwards of fifty years the Whig party in Scotland 
 had, without one moment's diversity or relaxation, 
 been demanding Parliamentary and Burgh Reform, as 
 the two definite things that for this country were all 
 in all. By the first, they meant that, under whatever 
 safeguards, the constitutional principle of popular re- 
 presentation should be extended to Scotland; by the 
 second, that an etui should be put to the insulting ab-
 
 LORD-ADVOCATE. M 1 
 
 surdity of all town-councils being self elected. These 
 were also English objects — in the wake of which the 
 Scotch ones were sure to follow; but the Scotch 
 eases were infinitely stronger. Putting down these 
 two evils was essential and preliminary to any good 
 whatever being done to this country. Though the 
 new Lord- Advocate, therefore, had soon no want of 
 lesser projects and distractions, these were the two 
 forts that had first to be gained. 
 
 Hence, though scarcely any Lord-Advocate had 
 entered public life in a more important or hazardous 
 season, there have been few whose official proceed- 
 ings it is less necessary to follow. He was only in 
 office about three years and a half, and it took nearly 
 the whole of that time to get these two measures 
 carried. Their adjustment to Scotland presented its 
 own difficulties, and gave rise to its own discussions; 
 but such details are unimportant after they are set- 
 tled ; and in the main schemes the northern part of 
 the island was identified with the southern. The 
 principle of reform was no sooner recognised by 
 Government and the legislature, than it was suc- 
 ceeded by its practical applications — which implied 
 a plentiful crop of proposals; but though within the 
 first projection of these changes, he was withdrawn 
 before he could become officially responsible for 
 their success, or their defeat. No important im- 
 provement, therefore, of the Lord-Advocate's own, 
 did, or could, distinguish his official reign. His 
 merit resolves into the manner in which he managed 
 the two great measures that were committed, in a
 
 312 LIFE OF LOUD JEFFREY. 
 
 certain degree to his charge ; and this admits of no 
 explanation that could be interesting, or perhaps 
 even intelligible, to those who were not engaged in 
 the conflict. 
 
 Though he would much rather have staid at 
 home, he had never any aversion to a visit to Lon- 
 don. He had many friends there in all classes, 
 among whom he was very popular ; and he de- 
 lighted to whet his intellect against the great 
 intellects of the capital, and to observe the varied 
 society to which his reputation, and his conversa- 
 tional powers, introduced him. Whenever he was 
 there, he wrote to me almost daily, owing partly 
 to my being Solicitor-General under him. These 
 letters contain lively accounts of all his proceedings 
 and feelings. The interesting persons he met with 
 — his social parties — his occasional retreats to the 
 country — every shadow of change in public affairs — 
 striking parliamentary occurrences and speeches — 
 the whole incidents of the London scene — are given 
 with a vivacity and talent which Lady M. W. Mon- 
 tague might have envied. But these communica- 
 tions can be only very sparingly disclosed. They 
 have already, in many places, become immaterial 
 and obscure ; in others they touch living individuals ; 
 and in many, and these the most valuable, they imply 
 confidence. But in so far as they are merely per- 
 sonal, they enable me to let him describe those per- 
 sonal occurrences himself, with which alone I have 
 now to deal. 
 
 Within a few weeks after his elevation, he was
 
 THE REFORM BILL. 313 
 
 returned member for what were termed the Forfar- 
 shire Burffhs ; on which occasion he had the honour 
 of being pelted by what he calls " The brutes of 
 Forfar," being a gang of blackguards who thought 
 that this was a good way of promoting the cause of 
 his opponent. But there was a flaw in the proceed- 
 ings which soon unseated him. He had only got 
 the return by the vote of the Dundee delegate, and 
 this burgh having been previously disfranchised, it 
 was ultimately decided that it had no right to vote. 
 But as the judgment of disfranchisement was under 
 appeal, he was advised to take his seat till the ap- 
 peal should be disposed of. 
 
 And so lie was in office, and in Parliament. " I 
 come into public life in stormy weather, and under 
 no very enviable auspices, except that our cause, and 
 our meaning, are good." — (To Richardson, 27th July 
 1831.) 
 
 The Reform Bill was propounded on the 1st of 
 March 1831. Three days thereafter he made his 
 lirst speech. " I have proposed to speak twice, 
 but could never get in. I think I must to-night. 
 But not a word has yet been said as to Scotland, 
 nor do I think the House would bear three sentences 
 on that insignificant subject. I must t therefore go 
 into the general question." — (To me, 4th March 
 1831.) He did so, in a speech, of which Mackintosh 
 says, " Macaulay and Stanley have made two of the 
 finest speeches ever spoken in Parliament. Jef- 
 frey's, though not quite so debating and parliamen- 
 tary, was quite as remarkable for argument and
 
 ol4 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 eloquence. No man of fifty -five * ever began a new 
 career so well." — (Memoirs, ii. 479). This speech 
 was published immediately afterwards, at the spe- 
 cial request of Government, and made a strong im- 
 pression on those who really wished to understand 
 the question. It is certainly general, and too much 
 above the common grapple of parliamentary con- 
 tention 5 but out of the whole speeches that were 
 delivered throughout the two years that the ques- 
 tion was discussed, no better argument in favour of 
 the principle and necessity of the measure, on its 
 general grounds, is extractable. Still, as a debating 
 speech, it fell below the expectations both of his 
 friends and of himself ; and the chief cause to which 
 he used to ascribe the disappointment, was his con- 
 stant dread, on his throat's account, of the physical 
 effort of speaking. 
 
 On the 17th of March the House of Lords 
 affirmed the judgment disfranchising Dundee, and 
 this left him little, chance with the committee. 
 u The Chancellor has affirmed Dundee. So that 
 card is lost, and we are all the worse for the com- 
 mittee. I think things look ominous on the whole 
 with me; and 1 have little other comfort than that 
 I always anticipated a bad result, and went into the 
 matter deliberately, and with my mind made up to 
 the worst. I only hope I shall not be found frivo- 
 lous, and vexatious, and saddled with the ene- 
 mies' costs, and that 1 shall escape disqualification 
 
 ; Hi' should have said abcv\ e fiftv-se> in. 

 
 I NSEATED. 315 
 
 by bribery." — (To me, 17th March 1834). He soon 
 struck his colours, and was unseated. bt Ruther- 
 furd, I believe, has told you the tragic history of 
 my committee. I bear the result, as 1 am hound to 
 do, manfully; chiefly, I believe, because I foresaw 
 the likelihood of it from the hour that I first entered 
 on my canvass, and have never much expected any- 
 thing else. It is plain, however, that it will never 
 do to make a poor Scotch lawyer pay his own way 
 into parliament three times in one year." — (To me, 
 28th March 1831.) 
 
 Lord Fitzwilliam let him have his burgh of 
 Malton; for which he was elected on the Gth of 
 April. His journey there was without Mrs. Jeffrey 
 and his daughter, and therefore it seems to have 
 made him pensive. u Here I am, near half-way to 
 Edinburgh, and yet not on my way to Edinburgh ! 
 ! this lovely view on the home road brings that 
 home so painfully before me, and gives such a pull 
 at the heart, that it requires all admonitions of duty 
 and ambition, and everything, to prevent me from 
 running on desperately down a steep place, and land- 
 ing at Craigcrook. I left town yesterday early, and 
 got to Lord Milton's to dinner, where I staid till this 
 morning ; a very fine old place, and a most agree- 
 able family of the quiet, natural, benevolent English 
 aristocracy. I am afraid we have nothing of the 
 sort in Scotland, and vet in England 1 could rather 
 say it is the most common character of the first rank. 
 I am on my road, you are aware, for Malton, where 
 I shall be at mid-day to-morrow ; and 1 hope elected
 
 31G LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 on Wednesday or Thursday. I must actually visit 
 GOO people, it seems, and go to the open market-place 
 on a staid horse, and make a discourse from the 
 saddle, under the canopy of heaven, rain or fair 
 weather. This is penalty enough, I think, without 
 having to pay £500 for feeding this punctilious 
 constituency." " It has been a long lonely day, and 
 T feel something desolate in the solitude of mine inn. 
 It was very bright and cheery however, and the 
 green hedges and fields full of bleating lambs, were 
 soothing after the long fever of London. I have not 
 had so much time to recollect myself since I left 
 home." — (To me, Ferrybridge, 5th April 1831). 
 
 He was elected on the 6th of April, but within 
 a fortnight Parliament was dissolved. This event 
 was the consequence of ministers, after a debate of 
 two nights, being in a minority of about eight, 
 on a motion by General Gascoigne, that the number 
 of the members of the House of Commons be not 
 diminished. Jeffrey never spoke so indignantly as 
 he did against the conduct of most of the Scotch 
 members on this occasion. If the then existing 
 number of the members could not be diminished, no 
 more members could be gained for Scotland, or 
 Ireland ; and the representatives of these countries 
 were warned u emphatically" by Government, that, 
 by supporting this motion they extinguished all 
 hope of obtaining their additional members. " Ire- 
 Land (Jeffrey writes) was far more true to duty," 
 but the opposition Scotch members all voted for 
 the motion, "and in fact decided the question."
 
 DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. :>17 
 
 The view of these persons was, that throwing the 
 Reform Bill out, was, in their opinion, more im- 
 portant than obtaining more members for Scot- 
 land, and this does not seem very unreasonable. 
 Imt Jeffrey is anxious that their u unspeakable base- 
 ness should be known and proclaimed in Scotland;" 
 and I mention this as almost the solitary, but rather 
 a refreshing exception to the usual gentleness of his 
 political malediction. 
 
 After mentioning the plots and speculations con- 
 nected with the sudden close of the attempt to work 
 reform out of the unreformed Parliament, lie says — 
 14 It was a beautiful, rosy, dead calm, morning when 
 we broke up a little before five to-day; and I took 
 three pensive turns along the solitude of West- 
 minster Bridge; admiring the sharp clearness of 
 St. Pauls, and all the city spires soaring up in a 
 cloudless sky, the orange red light that was be- 
 ginning to play on the trees of the Abbey, and the 
 old windows of the speaker's house, and the fiat, 
 green mist of the river floating upon a few lazy 
 hulks on the tide, and moving low under the arches. 
 It was a curious contrast with the long previous 
 imprisonment in the stifling roaring House, amidst 
 dying candles, and every sort of exhalation." — (To 
 Mr. Thos. Thomson, 20th April 1831). 
 
 Parliament was prorogued on the 22d of April, 
 " after a scene of bellowing, and roaring, and gnash- 
 ing of teeth, on the part of the adversary, in both 
 Houses, which it was almost frightful to look at,*' 
 and next day it was dissolved.
 
 318 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 He was naturally ambitious to represent bis 
 native city. But believing it to be hopeless under 
 the system then existing., he would not have made 
 the attempt, had it not been that, without his know- 
 ledge, a canvass was begun for him, which he did 
 not think it proper to resist. Its result was per- 
 fectly descriptive of what was formerly called elec- 
 tion in this country. His opponent was a very 
 respectable gentleman called Dundas, in whose 
 favour, however, I believe that no body beyond 
 the town-council, came publicly forward. Almost 
 all the public bodies petitioned the council in 
 favour of Jeffrey, and a petition to the same effect 
 was voted at a public meeting of the inhabitants, 
 on a Saturday about three o'clock; which petition 
 was signed by next Monday evening by about 
 17,400 persons. On the succeeding day, being 
 Tuesday the 3d of May 1831, the thirty-one or thirty- 
 two individuals, composing the town-council, met 
 in a room, to choose the member. They began by 
 reading all these applications ; and then, by a majo- 
 rity of seventeen to fourteen, elected Mr. Dundas. 
 This was the last general election at which any 
 Scotch town-council had it in its power to perform 
 the elective farce. 
 
 He was chosen for Malton again towards the be- 
 ginning of June. 
 
 Being blamed, a little after this, by some who 
 did nor duly consider Ins situation, for want of 
 decision, and for conceding too much to artful op- 
 ponents, lie defended himself by saying,
 
 THE SCOTCH REFORM BILL. 319 
 
 sand thanks for your hints as to my infirmities. 
 You might have made them twice as bad with per- 
 fect safety. I am rather afraid to promise amend- 
 ment, but I boldly promise never to be moved to 
 anything but gratitude by having the course of 
 amendment pointed out to me." "When the de- 
 cision rests with myself, 1 ought probably to be 
 more prompt and decided. But when 1 have in 
 substance only to propose and report for others, ] 
 rather think that I ought to hear all, and discuss 
 with all. And T know that many people have com- 
 plained that I do not discuss enough, and that I am 
 too peremptory and intractable, and I have even 
 received hints to this effect from the minority, to 
 whom the dissatisfied have carried their supplica- 
 tions." "It is very well for you and - to say 
 that you adhere to the original arrangement of the 
 bill, and that all the objections to it are nonsense. 
 I must hear and discuss all those objections, and I 
 cannot say to the minority that they are nonsense, 
 for they are very much moved by them, and want 
 me to obviate them by more decisive arguments 
 than can always be produced." — (To me, 23d June 
 1831). 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, the scold was not ill 
 deserved. His own constant sincerity and reason- 
 ableness made him always incredulous of the op- 
 posite qualities in others ; and hence his having 
 more charity for cunning enemies, than toleration 
 for honest friends, was an infirmity that too often 
 beset him.
 
 320 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 On the 1st of July 1831 lie brought in the Scotch 
 Reform Bill, " with a very few words of explana- 
 tion. I was strictly enjoined to avoid going into 
 any discussion, and indeed had a written order from 
 
 to move for leave without saying a single ivord." 
 
 (To me, 2d July 1831.) 
 
 Politically the two bills were the same. They dif- 
 fered only in phraseology and machinery. But 
 there was a short period, during the preparation of 
 the Scotch one, when there was an imagination of 
 making our franchise higher by five, or even by 
 ten, pounds, than that for England, which was sup- 
 ported by some of the leading reformers in this 
 country, and a fifteen pound franchise had, at one time, 
 the countenance even of the Lord- Advocate. This 
 was not because he, or they, thought the English 
 ten-pound qualification too low; but because they 
 thought that raising it for Scotland would facilitate 
 the passing of the Scotch bill, and that, for this 
 country, a fifty, or even a hundred, pound franchise 
 was at least better than none. They were wrong- 
 even in this view, which was vehemently resisted 
 by others, and by none with more effective vigour 
 than by Sir John H. Dalrymple ; * and Government 
 settled the matter on the principle that the fran- 
 chise must, in this respect, be the same in both 
 kingdoms. 
 
 Giving an account of the second night's debate 
 «>n the second reading of the English Bill, lie says. 
 
 Now Ear] of Stair.
 
 ENGLISH REFORM BILL. 32] 
 
 ■ u No division last night, as 1 predicted, and not a 
 very striking debate. A curious series of prepared 
 speeches, by men who do not speak regularly, and 
 far Letter expressed than nine-tenths of tin- good 
 speeches, but languid and inefficient from the air of 
 preparation and the want of nature and authority 
 with which they were spoken. There was but 
 one exception and it was a brilliant one. I mean 
 Mamuhy, who surpassed his former appearance in 
 closeness, fire, and vigour, and very much improved 
 the effect of it by a more steady and graceful de- 
 livery. It was prodigiously cheered, as it de- 
 served, and I think puts him clearly at the head 
 of the great speakers, if not the debaters, of the 
 House." " I once meant to have said something, 
 but 1 now think it impossible. Besides, Mackintosh 
 and Macaulay have taken all my ideas, and I can- 
 not stoop to reclaim them; but we shall see. It is 
 very hot, though very beautiful ; and would be 
 the most delicious weather in the world at Craig- 
 crook, or Loch Lomond, to which last region I 
 wander oftenest in my dreams. We have not been 
 very dissipated lately. We were at a grand party 
 at the Stafford's the other night, and I have had two 
 or three more cabinet dinners. The most agreeable 
 are Lord Grey's, where there are always ladies, and 
 we were very gay there last Sunday. I am still as 
 much in love with Althorpe, and most of his col- 
 leagues as ever, and feel proud and delighted with 
 their frankness, cheerfulness, and sweet-blooded 
 courage," — (To me, 6th July 1831). 
 
 VOL. I. Y
 
 322 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 He frequently met with Mr. Wordsworth this 
 spring ; and as some people fancy that lie had a rude 
 unkindness towards all the Lakers, it is proper to 
 mention that Wordsworth and he, whenever they 
 happened to be in each other's company, were ap- 
 parently friends. There was certainly no want of 
 friendly feeling on Jeffrey's part ; nor, it is to be 
 hoped, on Mr. Wordsworth's, though possibly it 
 was somewhat chilled by the recollection of what 
 he may have supposed to be past injustice. But if 
 he had any such thoughts, he had too much kind- 
 ness and politeness to shew them. In a letter to Mrs. 
 Echersall— 27th March 1831, Jeffrey says, — " I 
 dined yesterday at Mackintosh's, with Wordsworth 
 the poet, and Shiel the Irish orator, and several 
 other remarkable persons. Wordsworth and I were 
 great friends. He and Empson and I staid two good 
 hours after everybody else had gone, and did not 
 come home till near two." Giving an account of 
 the same meeting in another letter, he says — " Did 
 I tell you that I met Wordsworth at Mackintosh's 
 last week, and talked with him in a party of four 
 till two in the morning. He is not in the very 
 least Lakish now, or even in any degree poetical, 
 but rather a hard and a sensible worldly sort of a 
 man."— (To me, 30th March 1831). 
 
 Nobody seems to have struck him with such 
 admiration as Lord Althorpc. " There is some- 
 thing to me quite delightful in his calm, clumsy, 
 courageous, immutable, probity and well-meaning, 
 and it seems to have a charm for everybody." — (To 
 me, 13th February 1831).
 
 WORDSWORTH AND ALTHORPE. 323 
 
 He refreshed himself during these turmoils l>\ 
 as many retreats to the country as he could make 
 " I am just going to a conference with Melbourne 
 at the Home Office, which has forced me to give up 
 the refreshment of a rural day at Greenwich, which 
 I had promised myself, and for the sake of which I 
 had declined all engagements this Saturday. But 
 he has maliciously named four o'clock, and cut 
 through all our innocent schemes. These are the 
 things which give one most the feeling of bondage." 
 —(To me, 16th July 1831). 
 
 He spoke on one of the stages of the bill on the 
 15th of July 1831. "I spoke a little last night, 
 but my voice was too weak for so full and stirring a 
 House. I have always said that I was most afraid 
 of that infirmity ; and unless they are unusually 
 quiet, I am aware that I cannot make myself 
 generally heard ; which is very provoking." — (To 
 me, 16th July 1831). 
 
 In September 1831 he moved the second reading 
 of the Scotch Bill in a speech which I heard, and I 
 was not struck with any vocal deficiency ; but the 
 House, to be sure, was perfectly quiet. It was an 
 excellent speech, and very well received. But he 
 was plainly under great restraint, and, except in 
 sense and clearness, it was little calculated to give 
 strangers any idea of his powers. 
 
 He began to suffer soon after this from an 
 attack, which confined him for several weeks, and 
 
 required a painful operation. " Tell that 
 
 I am no better, 1 > 1 1 1 that I hear my sufferings like a
 
 324 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 lamb, though I cannot help bleating a little now 
 and then. I have lost quantities of blood, and a 
 good deal of flesh, and all to no purpose, and have 
 come to the creed that continual pain is a far worse 
 evil than a bad conscience, a bad character, or even 
 disappointment in love ; to say nothing of the more 
 ideal ills of a bad government, a bad climate, or an 
 empty purse. I beg the aid of your prayers, and 
 am always yours affectionately." — (To me, 3d Oc- 
 tober 1831). 
 
 Yet even in this situation, his humanity alarmed 
 him for the consequences of the bill being thrown 
 out by the Peers. " For God's sake keep the 
 people quiet in Scotland. I have written edifying- 
 letters to the sheriffs of the manufacturing counties, 
 and some additional troops have, on my earnest re- 
 quest, been sent among us. Nothing in the world 
 would do such fatal mischief as riot and violence, 
 ending, as it noiv must do, in lavish bloodshed — from 
 which my soul recoils. I am suffering more pain 
 than I could wish to an anti-reformer." " I am 
 very much reduced in flesh and strength ; but feel- 
 ing my head and my heart whole enough in my 
 intervals of pain. It has been a sharp martyrdom ; 
 but it is shabby in me disturbing my kind friends 
 so much about it, and the expressions in your letter 
 make me almost scorn myself for distressing you. 
 [t is far more cheering to me to think of you, gay 
 and comfortable, than even for a moment sad on 
 my account." — (To me, 15th October 1831). 
 
 Parliament was prorogued on the. 20th of Octo-
 
 UNWELL — WIMBLEDON. 325 
 
 ber; but he was too ill to come home, and in the 
 beginning of November went to Wimbledon. I ad- 
 vised him to apply his leisure on various Scotch 
 matters which seemed to require legislation. The 
 principal of these were the Poor Law, Education, 
 the Law of Evidence, and the Police. He was not 
 disposed, however, to meddle with more than he had 
 already on hand — especially " as the misfortune is, 
 that Government will not take the trouble to under- 
 stand anything merely Scotch, and is therefore never 
 cordial nor resolute." — (1st November 1831). Every 
 one of these matters have been operated upon by 
 Parliament since. 
 
 " I am delighted with this place (Wimbledon). 
 It is much colder than London, but dry and bright. 
 Fine old trees, skirting a bright green common, in 
 tufts and masses ; some shining ponds glistening in 
 the turf; a boundless horizon, with the Richmond 
 woods on one side, and the Surrey hills on the other ; 
 a gay but quiet village, sinking into the wood, and 
 a garland of large shady villas sweeping in a full 
 crescent round a broad bay of the common ; a nice, 
 dry, airy house ; with a garden of smooth turf and 
 broad gravel walks, backed up with evergreens, 
 and thick wood. I have brought a good store of 
 books, and read with voracious delight. I am even 
 voracious at dinner; and have my carriage and 
 horses. In short, if it were not for that old pain, 
 which is the devil and satan, I should be very 
 happy, and by God's grace I hope to get the mastery 
 over it in due time. ^\Irs. J. and Charley his
 
 326 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 daughter) are in ecstasy at having at last escaped 
 from that stifling noisy London ; and run about 
 like your boys at Bonaly in the first days of vaca- 
 tion."— (To me, 4th November 1831.) 
 
 Parliament met again early in December. On 
 the 17th of that month, ministers had a great ma- 
 jority on the second reading of the bill. " The de- 
 bate on the whole, was not interesting. made 
 
 a most impertinent, unfair, and petulant speech, but 
 with passages of great cleverness. Macaulay made, 
 I think, the best he has yet delivered; the most 
 condensed at least, and with the greatest weight of 
 matter. It contained the only argument indeed to 
 which any of the speakers who followed him applied 
 themselves. There was a very running fire of small 
 calibres, all the early part of yesterday. But there 
 were in the end, three remarkable speeches, — first, a 
 mild, clear authoritative vindication of the measure, 
 upon broad grounds, and in answer to general im- 
 putations, by Lord John Russell ; delivered with a 
 louder voice, and more decided manner than usual 
 with him. Next a magnificent, spirited, and most 
 eloquent, speech by Stanley — chiefly in castigation 
 of whom he trampled in the dirt, but con- 
 taining also a beautiful and spirited vindication of 
 the whole principle and object of Reform. This 
 was by far the best speech I have heard from 
 Stanley, and I fancy much the best he has ever 
 made. It was the best, too, I must own, in the de- 
 hate; for though Macaulay' s was more logical and 
 full of thought, this was more easy, spirited, and
 
 DEBATE ON THE REFORM BILL. 327 
 
 graceful. The last was Peel's, which, though re- 
 markable, was not good," &c. — (To me.) 
 
 In a few days after this he thought himself 
 almost sufficiently rewarded for having taken office, 
 by the power which it gave him of obtaining one of 
 the principal clerkships in the Court of Session for 
 George Joseph Bell. He would have made him a 
 judge if there had been a vacancy ; and certainly no 
 man had ever a stronger claim, so far as such claims 
 depend on eminent fitness, than Mr. Bell had for 
 a seat on that bench, which his great legal work 
 had been instructing and directing for above thirty 
 years. 
 
 Jeffrey wrote something in jest to Lord Holland, 
 who was going to visit the King at Brighton, about 
 the Scotch and the year 1745. In a few days he 
 saw his Lordship after his return. " He says he won 
 five-and-sixpence from the King at cribbage, and 
 was sent to bed at eleven o'clock. Can you conceive 
 anything more innocent or primitive ? a king playing 
 eagerly for sixpences ! He tells me he also read to 
 his Majesty the letter I wrote him about a new 
 ■rebellion in Scotland, if the bills were not passed, 
 and with very good effect ! The King condescended 
 to observe that there was a Scotticism in the letter, 
 viz., the use of the word misgive for fail or miscarry, 
 which I do not think a Scotticism; but who will 
 dispute with a king? For all this we are not 
 easy."— (To me, 2d Feb. 1832). 
 
 He met Talleyrand at Holland House, and gives 
 this account of him: — "He is more natural, plain,
 
 328 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 and reasonable, than I had expected; a great deal of 
 the repose of high breeding and old age, with a mild 
 and benevolent manner, and great calmness of 
 speech, rather than the sharp, caustic, cutting 
 speech of a practised utterer of bons mots. He spoke 
 a great deal of old times and old persons, the court 
 of Louis XVI. when Dauphin, his coronation, 
 Voltaire, Malsherbe, Turgot ; with traditional anec- 
 dotes of Massillon and Bossuet, and many women 
 ( >f these days, whose names I have forgotten, and a 
 good deal of diplomatic anecdote, altogether very 
 pleasing and easy. He did not eat much, nor talk 
 much about eating, except only that he enquired 
 very earnestly into the nature of cocky -leekie* and 
 wished much to know whether prunes were essential. 
 He settled at last that they should be boiled in the 
 soup, but not brought up in it. He drank little but 
 iced water."— (To me, 5th Feb. 1832.) 
 
 The following is part of his account of the 
 second reading of the Reform Bill in the Lords : — 
 (14th April 1832).— " As I did not get to bed till 
 near eight this morning (and was out again at 
 eleven), after fourteen hours starving in the Lords, 
 you cannot expect a long or a lively letter from me. 
 You will see we had a majority of nine, being one 
 more than any body can account for. The debate 
 was not very brilliant, but got, in its latter stage, ex- 
 cessively interesting. The Chancellor more tran- 
 quil, and less offensive, than usual, but not at all 
 
 A Scotch soup.
 
 lords' debate on the reform bill. 329 
 
 Languid, ami in very good voice throughout, chiefly 
 correcting false representations, dispelling vain ter- 
 rors, and arranging and soothing. Lyndhurst 's by 
 far the cleverest and most dangerous speech against 
 as in the debate, and very well spoken. Lord 
 Grey's reply on the whole admirable; intone and 
 spirit perfect, and, considering his age and the 
 time, really astonishing. He spoke near an hour 
 and a half, after five o'clock, from the kindling 
 dawn into full sun light, and I think with great 
 effect. The aspect of the House was very strik- 
 ing through the whole night, very full, and, on the 
 whole, still and solemn, (hut for the row with 
 Durham and Phillpots, which ended in the merited 
 exposure of the latter). The whole throne and the 
 space around it clustered over with 100 members 
 of our House, and the space below the bar (which, 
 since the galleries which are constructed over the 
 grand entrance, is also left entirely for us) nearly 
 filled with 200 more, ranged in a standing row of 
 three deep along the bar, another sitting on the 
 ground against the wall, and the space between 
 covered with moving and sitting figures in all direc- 
 tions, with twenty or thirty clambering on the rail- 
 ings, and perched up by the doorways. Between 
 four and five, when the daylight began to shed its 
 blue beams across the red candle light, the scene 
 was very picturesque, from the singular grouping 
 of forty or fifty of us sprawling on the floor, awake 
 and asleep, in all imaginable attitudes, and with 
 all sorts of expressions and wrappings. l Young
 
 330 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Cadbollj who chose to try how he could sleep stand- 
 ing, jammed in a corner, fell flat down over two 
 prostrate Irishmen on the floor, with a noise that 
 made us all start, but no mischief was done. The 
 candles had been renewed before dawn, and blazed 
 on after the sun came fairly in at the high windows, 
 and produced a strange, but rather grand effect, on 
 the red draperies and furniture and dusky tapestry 
 on the walls. Heaven knows what will become of 
 it."— (To me, 14th April 1832). 
 
 The bill was thrown out by the Peers in May. 
 This led to a resignation of ministry, which was 
 thus announced to me : — 9th May 1832. — " Well, my 
 dear C, we are all out ! and so ends the first act of 
 our comedy. God grant that it may not fall too 
 soon into the tragic vein. The fact is not generally 
 knoivn yet (I am now writing to you about noon) ; 
 but it is surmised, and before six o'clock it will be 
 announced in Parliament. I went to Althorpe at 
 ten o'clock to ask, and had a characteristic scene 
 with that most honest, frank, true, and stout-hearted 
 of all God's creatures. He had not come down 
 stairs, and I was led up to his dressing-room, where 
 I found him sitting on a stool, in a dark duffle 
 dressing-gown, with his arms, (very rough and 
 hairy), bare above the elbows, and his beard half 
 shaved, and half staring through the lather, with 
 a desperate razor in one hand, and a great soap 
 brush in the other. He gave me the loose finger of 
 the brush hand, and with the usual twinkle of his 
 brighl eye and radianl smile, he said,—' You need
 
 RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS. 331 
 
 not be anxious about your Scotch Bill for to-night, 
 for I have the pleasure to tell you, we are no longer 
 his Majesty's Ministers.'' It is idle to speculate 
 on the corning events ; though events will conic, 
 and offences too, and woe most probably to those 
 through whom they come. Nor is it much wiser 
 to look backward now, except for the consola- 
 tion of not having, at all events, been shabby 
 or mercenary, and the other comfort (for it is 
 really one now) of never having been sanguine." 
 " In the meantime, do what you can to keep peace, 
 and with your last official breath exhort and 
 conjure lovers of liberty to be lovers of order 
 and tolerance. I tremble for Scotland, and think 
 there is greater hazard there than in any other 
 quarter." 
 
 In his horror of popular commotion, and antici- 
 pating the formation of a government resolved to 
 dissolve, and not to reform, he draws the following 
 picture : — " It will only require twelve or fifteen des- 
 perate men to be got together in a room — a Chancel- 
 lor and Home Secretary to be created — a commis- 
 sion made for proroguing Parliament at two o'clock, 
 and a proclamation for dissolving it for the Evening 
 Gazette — an insulting answer proposed to the address 
 of the Commons — and the country is on fire before 
 Sunday morning; aye — inextinguishable fire, though 
 blood should be poured out on it like water ! Then 
 would follow the dispersion of unions and meetings, 
 and petitions by soldiery ; and vindictive burnings ; 
 and massacres of anti-reformers, in all tin* manufac-
 
 332 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 turing districts : and summary arrests of men accused 
 of sedition and treason ; and shoals of persecutions 
 for libels, followed by triumphant acquittals, and 
 elections carried through amidst sanguinary tumults, 
 and finally, a House of Commons returned to put 
 down that brutal administration, but too late to stay 
 the torrent it had created. There is a scene for 
 you!!"— (To me, 17th May 1832). 
 
 To those who think the loss of political power 
 the greatest of all misfortunes, the following* account 
 of one man's resignation under that calamity maybe 
 useful. u Lord Althorpe has gone through all this 
 with his characteristic cheerfulness and courage. 
 The day after the resignation he spent in a great 
 sale garden, choosing and buying flowers, and came 
 home with five great packages in his carriage, 
 devoting the evening to studying where they should 
 be planted in his garden at Althorpe, and writing 
 directions and drawing plans for their arrangement. 
 And when they came to summon him to a counsel 
 on the Duke's giving in, he was found in a closet 
 with a groom, busy oiling the locks of his fowling- 
 pieces, and lamenting the decay into which they 
 had fallen during his ministry." — (To me, 21st 
 May 1832). 
 
 .Ministry being replaced within a week, he pro- 
 ceeded witli the Scotch Bill; but "my reason for 
 speaking little is, that I have no voice to ensure a 
 hearing; and, to-day, I am sorry to say that it is 
 worse than usual, which, as 1 must go on with my 
 Reform Bill, is very provoking."— (21st May 1832).
 
 LORD AI/l'llolM'K. 333 
 
 However, it seems that no voice was quite sufficient, 
 because "Lord Althorpe desired me to sav nothing 
 at moving (the second reading), and, as then- was to 
 be no division, he said it was not regular to reply." — 
 22d May 1832.) 
 
 A personal, and political, and well-qualified, friend 
 of his own being a candidate for a chair in one of 
 our colleges, he says, (4th June 1832), — " Unless 
 
 sends good medical credentials, he certainly 
 
 will not be appointed. I have had some talk with 
 Lord Melbourne about it, who says, that to job a 
 teaching chair in a great medical school would be 
 disgraceful, and that he will not give it to any man 
 because he is a Whig, unless he be the best, or 
 among the Lest, in all respects; and who shall say 
 otherwise ? 
 
 The Scotch Bill passed the Commons about mid- 
 night on the 27th of June 1832. 
 
 This did not end his anxieties, but it greatly 
 relieved them. It left little beyond the general 
 principle of the measure to be discussed, and this 
 was virtually settled by the English case ; though 
 there were some persons, and even in high places, 
 who wished to protract the struggle, on the curious 
 ground that though the representation of England 
 had been reformed, that of Scotland had better con- 
 tinue as it was. But this could not disturb him, 
 and the intrigues and discussions and wranglings 
 that had agitated the preceding eight months, were 
 virtually at an end. Being the official manager of 
 the measure, he, like every one else in that position,
 
 334 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 had to resist the most opposite proposals, both from 
 friendly and from hostile quarters, and was blamed 
 accordingly. For example, he was loudly con- 
 demned for leaving each of the two adjoining shires 
 of Peebles and Selkirk, one with about 12,000, and 
 the other with about 8000 inhabitants, with a mem- 
 ber, and for giving only one member to Orkney and 
 Shetland jointly, these two islands being separated 
 by one hundred miles of tempestuous sea, and the 
 people in each amounting to above thirty thousand. 
 And still more wildly was he attacked for having 
 introduced a members' qualification clause, which 
 was a novelty in this country, into the Scotch Bill. 
 But the truth is, and this was explained, uselessly 
 at the time, that he opposed all these provisions. 
 The qualification clause, indeed, which at first ap- 
 plied to towns as well as shires, he resisted almost 
 to the extent of resigning ; and when this part of 
 the statute was altered, Lord Althorpe stated in the 
 House, that " he took blame to himself for not having 
 had more regard to the advice and mediation of the 
 Lord- Advocate." Many similar examples might be 
 given. They are common to all men in his posi- 
 tion. 
 
 His reflections on getting the measure through 
 the Commons were these : — " It is odd how strangely 
 I felt as I walked home alone last night after all 
 was over. Instead of being elated or relieved, 
 
 * A Scandinavian put forth a fierce pamphlet which seemed to 
 be directed chiefly against the ;Mrocity of his native Shetland heing 
 called Zetland in the I'ill.
 
 SCOTCH BILL PASSED. 335 
 
 I could not help feeling a deep depression and sad- 
 ness, and I rather think I dropped a tear or two, as 
 T paused to interrogate my own feelings in St. James' 
 Square. I cannot very well explain this, hut a 
 sense of the littleness and vanity even of those great 
 contentions, was uppermost in my mind. I have 
 ever since had a most intense longing to get home, 
 and when so many of my fellow members now think 
 themselves free, and are preparing to set off to-mor- 
 row or next day, it seems peculiarly hard on me to 
 be chained for two or three weeks longer. I trust, 
 however, it will be no more, and then I shall have 
 some summer to enjoy yet. I hunger and thirst for 
 another view of Loch Lomond and my Highlands, 
 and hope to meet you at Glenfinnart * before grouse 
 has become common. Do for me what you can with 
 the citizens, and let me know what is wanted on my 
 part."— (To me, 28th June 1832.) 
 
 The bill passed the Lords on the 12th of July. 
 On coming from a long night's work in the Com- 
 mons that day, this scene was presented: — " It was 
 a most lovely, warm, rosy, dead calm, morning, when 
 we broke up ; and the perfect reflection of all the 
 towers and trees on the water, with the fresh, crisp, 
 solidity of the unmoving foliage, in that glorious 
 metallic light, made up a magnificent scene." — (To 
 me, 13th July 1832.) 
 
 At the eleventh hour, and when on the very eve of 
 the royal assent, his patience was severely tried by 
 
 * Where Lord Fnllerton was living.
 
 330 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 the fancied discoveries of eager and captious friends, 
 who pretended to groan over the bill, and to predict 
 its entire failure, because their new and confident 
 nonsense had not been foreseen and provided against. 
 " Certainly there is an alacrity in fault-finding among 
 some of our friends, which, but for the actual expe- 
 rience of it, I should not have thought possible ; and 
 then so fierce, and conceited, and infallible. I do 
 not know two such provoking, wrong-headed, un- 
 manageable, fools, as the said , and ; and 
 
 wish to God they would kill each other, and deliver 
 us from the intolerable plague of their counsels." 
 
 The lamented illness of Sir Walter Scott, who 
 was not in a condition either to act as Sheriff of 
 Selkirkshire, under the Reform Bill, or to appoint a 
 substitute, or to resign, made it necessary to pass a 
 statute enabling the Crown to appoint an interim 
 sheriff to act during his incapacity. This was all 
 arranged with Sir Walter's friends ; and no one who 
 knew Jeffrey could doubt the affectionate tender- 
 ness with which he would perforin the sad duty of 
 moving the bill. Nevertheless, it has been said 
 that lie was actuated by a desire to have an office to 
 give away! Mr. Lockhart has explained the true 
 facts, as the best answer to "a statement highly un- 
 just and injurious ;" and adds, that when " Mr. Jef- 
 frey introduced his bill in the House of Commons, 
 he used language so graceful and touching, that 
 both Sir Robert Peel and Mi-. Croker went across 
 the House to thank him cordially for it/' — (Life of 
 Scott, chap. S3.)
 
 RETURN TO EDINBURGH. 337 
 
 Parliament having adjourned with a view to dis- 
 solution, lie proceeded homewards. tl It is beautifu] 
 weather, only too hot. I hope to dine in the cool 
 groves of Roehampton with the Mintos to-morrow, 
 
 and then turn my face to the fresh air of the north. 
 There is a spring and a 1 tracing in the very thought 
 of it." "And so ends the chronicle of this session, 
 ever memorable, and destined, I trust, to be of 
 blessed memory to all future generations, though it 
 closes in tears, and amidst signs of times which are 
 big with anxiety and alarm." — (To me, 10th August 
 1832.) "A lovely day; and I feel that I shall re- 
 vive when I meet the -bracing air of the north. Yet 
 there is some pang in leaving one's house of a year; 
 and the loneliness of London and its outskirts have 
 rather a melancholy air this morning." — (12th August 
 1832.) 
 
 He came here in the middle of August 1832, and 
 remained till Parliament met again in February 
 1833. His chief object now was, to be returned to 
 the first Reformed Parliament by his native city. 
 But even this ambition did not fire him, as it would 
 
 have done some excited candidates. " annoys 
 
 me by stating that I should not lose a moment in com- 
 ing down to canvass. Now, first, I cannot possibly 
 stir till our bill is through the Lords, as well as the 
 Commons ; there being no one man on our side who 
 knows anything of the history or detail of the 
 measure, or could give any explanation as to many 
 points liable enough to be misunderstood, and even, 
 I fear, rashly abandoned. In the next place, I have 
 
 vol. i. z
 
 338 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 the greatest horror, if I were even free, to move at 
 such a call, at the idea of running about begging the 
 votes of 10,000 or 12,000 people, and counterfeiting 
 great pride and eagerness, when all the time I would 
 give a good round sum to be honourably rid of the 
 House. And lastly, as I stand solely from public 
 necessity, and to oblige or obey my political friends 
 on the spot, I do think it reasonable that they 
 should arrange, and take the charge of the canvass 
 for me, being a thing for which I have no manner 
 of genius or stomach at the present moment. I hope 
 this will not appear unreasonable or selfish. It may 
 show more indifference on the subject than would 
 be wise to confess to electors, but not a bit more, 
 nor indeed, half so much as I feel. I do not find it 
 is expected that I should put forth either a profes- 
 sion of faith or a humble supplication for support. 
 Nor, on the other hand, do I hear of any requisition 
 or invitation proposed to be addressed to me. But 
 upon all that, I put myself in your hands, and give 
 you power either to address the electors in my name, 
 or to intimate, in answer to any requisition, that I 
 am willing to be indebted to their support," &c. &c. 
 His associate in this object was the Hon. James 
 Abercrombie, who for many years had so identified 
 himself with the cause of his countrymen, that long 
 before popular election was introduced, he used to 
 be described as (lie representative, not of the city, 
 but of the citizens. No selection by the constituents 
 could be more natural. Ever since the old bondage 
 had begun to relax, lie had warmly and steadily
 
 ELECTED FOE EDINBURGH. 339 
 
 supported the people in all their reasonable efforts; 
 and they who know those matters best will be the 
 readiest to attest that, without his sagacity and 
 firmness, his influence and parliamentary experience, 
 and his earnest desire to improve the condition of his 
 countrymen, many of their strongest claims would 
 have been without a practical adviser in London. 
 
 He and Jeffrey received a requisition to let them- 
 selves be put in nomination, signed by about 1200 
 electors. They consented, and went through the 
 usual processes of addressing meetings of the con- 
 stituents, and of seeing and conferring with the 
 district leaders. These things have become common 
 since ; but this was the first time that the people 
 had ever exercised the elective franchise; and the 
 novelty of the proceedings gave them an interest 
 that can never be felt again. People stared at 
 the very sight of the hustings ; all from curiosity, 
 many with delight, some with unaffected horror. 
 One party saw, in these few rare planks, the fulfil- 
 ment of a vision long cherished ; another the end of 
 a system which they had hoped to perpetuate. The 
 nomination was on the 17th of December 1832, the 
 declaration of the poll upon the 19th. Their oppo- 
 nent on the Tory side was a most excellent gentle- 
 man, Mr. Forbes Blair, a banker. The result was, 
 that 4058 voted for Jeffrey, 3865 for Mr. Aber- 
 crombie, 1519 for Mr. Blair. It is due to the elec- 
 tors to state, that the two first were returned free of 
 expense. 
 
 It was in connection with these proceedings that
 
 340 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 he first got well acquainted with the late Sir Thomas 
 Lauder, who had left his most beautiful place on 
 the river Findhorn, and settled in Edinburgh in 
 1831. His popular qualities made him a valuable 
 ally in an election, but it was for higher excellences 
 that Jeffrey adhered to him. He was one of the 
 most accomplished of country gentlemen. Few 
 men, not bred to any regular profession, (for his 
 soldiership was very short) could have distinguished 
 themselves in such a variety of ways as he could, 
 if he had chosen. He did enough to attest his 
 capacity both for science and for art ; and some 
 of his works of fiction would have made more 
 permanent impressions than they have done, had 
 they not appeared in the immediate blaze of those 
 of Scott. His account of the " Great Floods of 
 August 1829, in the province of Moray and ad- 
 joining districts," is perhaps the best description 
 that there is of any British inundation. Yet even 
 these powers were apt to be lost sight of by his 
 friends, amidst their enjoyment of his worth and 
 amiable gaiety. 
 
 Jeffrey remained here from August 1832 till 
 February 1833, when he was obliged to return to 
 Parliament ; and at no period of his life was he 
 happier, or with better reason. Restored health, 
 the society of his natural friends, some truce to 
 official annoyance, a slight resumption of his pro- 
 fessional occupations, and the high position he had 
 reached, supplied him with all the sources of rational 
 pleasure
 
 IMPATIENT REFORMERS. .Til 
 
 On Ins way back to London, he says, i left 
 you all more sadly this time than the time before; 
 partly, I believe, because I had settled more down 
 to my old habits, and partly because I could not 
 but feel how fast the tide of life is ebbing away 
 from us, and how little may remain to be enjoyed 
 after another return, not for Edinburgh, but to it. 
 No matter, we must all do as we must, and all is 
 said. We are drifting down to rapids at least, if 
 not to an absolute cataract, and we must keep our 
 heads steady." — (To me, from Stevenage, 3d Feb- 
 ruary 1833). 
 
 The only friend, besides his wife, daughter, and 
 servants, that he took with him, was one he often 
 mentions, " Poor Polly" a grey and very wise par- 
 rot. He was attached to all that sort of domestic 
 companions, and submitted to much banter on ac- 
 count of the soft travelling basket for the little dog 
 Witch, and the large cage for this bird. The 
 hearth-rug and the sofa were seldom free of his 
 dumb pets. He was very unwell for above two 
 months after he arrived, in the trachea, and gene- 
 rally, and nearly voiceless. 
 
 The reform of the burghs was now the great 
 object, but it was far from superseding other mat- 
 ters ; for there were endless discussions, and the 
 usual amount of suggestive and of obstructive posi- 
 tiveness on all sides, about the Anatomy Bill, 
 Church Patronage. Sheriffs, Law Reform, Edin- 
 burgh Annuity Tax, and many other matters. This 
 was natural. The Reform Act had broken down
 
 o42 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 the dam that used to keep back the stream of legis- 
 lative improvement. The obstacle was no sooner 
 removed, than grievances, all said, however old, 
 to require instant correction, started up in every 
 corner, and covered the land with exhalations of 
 reformers. Some of these were reasonable ; not the 
 less so that they saw difficulties, and were patient. 
 Many, in their enthusiasm and conceit, would hear 
 of no doubt ; and had to learn, by mortifying ex- 
 perience, that most cases have at the least two sides, 
 and that delay is often the ballast of sound legisla- 
 tion. In the first flush of their liberation, every 
 one desirous of distinguishing himself by his little 
 bit of reform, rushed with his project to the Lord 
 Advocate ; and if he found that Government or 
 Parliament were not to concede in a moment all 
 that he wanted, abused his Lordship as a changed 
 man. Several of these schemes, clear as their pro- 
 moters thought them, have not, after the lapse of 
 twenty additional years, been settled yet. Mean- 
 while, though their promoters troubled the official re- 
 ceptacle, they could not subdue his sense of duty or 
 his good nature. He heard every body, and never 
 spared himself, but could not help being often amazed 
 at the absurdity he had to deal with. 
 
 In the midst of this bustle lie did not forget the 
 Speculative Society; which, and all other such in- 
 stitutions within the College, were in great danger 
 from a scandalous desire on the part of the town- 
 council or its leaders, to take all their apartments 
 from them, for the accommodation of one or two pro-
 
 LONDON LIFE. 343 
 
 fessors. It was fortunate that at this very moment, 
 Government was making a grant of about £10,000 
 to the magistrates for the College. The state of 
 things being explained to Jeffrey, he went to Lord 
 Brougham, and says (10th February 1833) — a T 
 have seen the Chancellor, and he engages that the 
 grant to the College certainly shall not issue, but 
 on condition of the Studiosa Juventus having ac- 
 commodation for their societies," which they ac- 
 cordingly were allowed to retain. 
 
 He was soon in all the whirl of the place he 
 had gone to. " I dined yesterday at Ham with 
 
 , and Lords - , and other 
 
 Tories. To-day I go to the Chief Justice's whom I 
 have scarcely seen ; and to-morrow I have hard 
 duty, first to the House of Lords at ten, then to the 
 drawing-room at two, then to a dressed dinner at 
 Lord Melbourne's at seven, and finally to Lady 
 Lansdowne's at night. The drawing-room is the 
 most irksome. But I do well to write to you to- 
 day, though I cannot now write any more. Mon- 
 day, 25th. — Well ! I have got through the heaviest 
 half of my day's task, having argufied till two, and 
 paraded in the drawing-room till near five ; a very 
 brilliant and imposing spectacle, and more beautiful 
 women than I ever saw together before, and more 
 beautifully dressed. But the star of all stars in 
 
 my eyes is , who wants nothing but wings 
 
 and immortality to be an angel. The getting away, 
 as usual, was tiresome ; but, on the whole, I thought 
 the pastime so good that I think 1 shall go to
 
 344 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 another. We had a delightful quiet dinner with the 
 Chief Justice yesterday, no one but Sharpe and 
 Empson. He is full of heart and spirits, and we 
 staid talking till eleven." — (To me, 24th February 
 1833). 
 
 The Irish Coercion Bill gave him the best view 
 he had yet obtained of the nature of a certain class 
 of the Irish members — " without the least sense of 
 shame or honour ; bold, desperate, and loquacious." 
 — (3d February 1833). He was always inclined to 
 hope better of 0' Conn ell, and had a great admira- 
 tion of his eloquence. " Fie is a great artist. In 
 my opinion indisputably the greatest orator in the 
 House ; nervous, passionate, without art, or orna- 
 ment ; concise, intrepid, terrible ; far more in the 
 style of old Demosthenic directness and vehemence, 
 than anything I have heard in this modern world ; 
 vet often coarse, and sometimes tiresome, as De- 
 
 .7 7 I 
 
 mosthenes was too, though venturing far less, and 
 going over far less ground." — (To me, 4th March 
 1833). 
 
 The Burgh Bill was moved for on the 12th 
 March 1833, " without any discussion, or next to 
 none ; and I shall read it a first time, I hope, to- 
 morrow, and a second time on Friday, in the same 
 quiet and comfortable way. The secret of this is, 
 that we finally arranged to send it, after the second 
 reading, to a special committee up stairs, consisting 
 of all the twenty-three burgh members for Scotland. 
 who may there discuss and suggest at their leisure 
 and, having si. exhausted themselves, will not be
 
 THE BURGH REFORM BILL. 345 
 
 much disposed, or readily allowed, to bother aboul 
 it in the House."— (To me, L2th March 1833). 
 
 Was it owing to their anticipating this, thai 
 they took their own way in the committee? He 
 seems to have been absolutely worried, not much 
 by the direct opposition of those who were against 
 the measure, as by the restless conceit and intoler- 
 ance of its friends. Every man, in every town, 
 thought that this was a matter on which he was en- 
 titled to speak, and confidently; and as there was 
 little analogy to be affected bv it in England, it 
 was not adequately taken charge of by Government. 
 It was therefore far more distressing to the Lord- 
 Advocate, in whose unassisted hands they left it, 
 than the parliamentary reform had been. " Our 
 committee — 1 mean the Scotch burgh committee — 
 goes on as ill as possible, and it is difficult to say 
 who behaves worst." — " They chatter, and wrangle, 
 and contradict, and grow angry, and read letters 
 and extracts from blockheads of towTi-clerks, and 
 little fierce agitators ; and forgetting that they are 
 members of a great legislature, and (some of them) 
 attached to a fair ministry, go on speculating, and 
 suggesting, and debating, more loosely, crudely, and 
 interminably, than a parcel of college youths in the 
 first noviciate of disceptation." — (To me, 28th March 
 1833). 
 
 His speculation upon Parliament itself, on its 
 rising for Easter, is in the same spirit. " The first 
 act of the new parliamentary drama will probably 
 end, for a short interval, on Wednesday ; and 1 am
 
 346 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 afraid is not to be looked back to with much satis- 
 faction. The friction in the working of the machine, 
 and the consequent obstruction of its movements, 
 has been much greater than was ever known ; and 
 though this may grow less when it has been longer 
 in use, as is the case with all new machines, I am 
 afraid part of it is owing to the increased number 
 of independent movements, and part, perhaps, to 
 the want of the old oiling which can no longer be 
 afforded. It is pretty plain, too, that though on 
 the great 'political questions there is a great majority 
 against all extreme opinions, there is a very formid- 
 able and unruly mass of crude and perilous doc- 
 trines upon all the other great interests of society ; 
 and, above all, such a determination on the part of 
 the respective doctrinaires to have what they call a 
 full and thorough discussion of merits, and to take 
 no check from indications of dislike and disgust on 
 the part of the House, that I foresee we shall have 
 quite as long and nauseating debates on currency, 
 church reform, East Indies, slavery, property-tax, 
 poor laws, and other economical topics, as we have 
 had upon Ireland ; and, as life and days do not ad- 
 mit of equivalent prolongations, that we shall make 
 no substantial progress in most of them, or in any- 
 thing else, although we should sit till January ; 
 while the Impatient and factious movement is hoot- 
 ing, and hissing, and abusing us for not regenerat- 
 ing all things before the middle of June ! This is 
 truly our position and practical prospect, which you 
 will admit is sufficiently cheering. 1 often think
 
 [MPATIENT REFORMERS. 347 
 
 seriously of cutting ami running (especially if I have 
 a sick fit), and the only thing that prevents me is 
 the difficulty of deciding what to run to, and a sort 
 of Epicurean fatalism in my creed, which has long 
 made me believe that as we must do something, and 
 suffer something, in this uncontrollable world, it is 
 better to leave Providence to determine what it shall 
 be, than to vex one's self, and increase one's responsi- 
 bility, by trying to alter it." — (To me, 28th March 
 1833). 
 
 There are few who have ever been engaged in 
 getting even friends to co-operate in measures of 
 practical wisdom, who will not sympathise with him 
 when he says, "It is mortifying and marvellous to 
 find how difficult it is to do good, even when one is good 
 natured, and has neither sanguine motives nor sinis- 
 ter views."— (23d March 1833). 
 
 The changes in the midst of which he lived, and 
 the general action of new principles, exposed him 
 somewhat more than usual, perhaps, to the torment 
 of details, for which, as he could not control them, 
 he should not have been held responsible, and which 
 distract any Lord- Advocate more than the higher 
 duties of his place. " The great oppression to which 
 my office is subjected is not so much in this busi- 
 ness of legislature, as to which the Advocate should 
 always be for something, as the endless political re- 
 ferences and reports upon applications for places and 
 offices, from a common exciseman up to a supreme 
 judge, through all the variations of ministers, school- 
 masters, professors, justices of the peace, lords-lieu-
 
 348 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 tenants, staff surgeons, colonies, consuls, King's con- 
 fectioners, &c, &c. The time this occupies, and its 
 infinite irksomeness, is the great drawback to the 
 situation ; and it must sooner or later be relieved of 
 it.' —(To me, 16th April 1833). 
 
 These vexations were not diminished by feeble 
 health, made worse by the hay fever. " The wea- 
 ther is very hot and beautiful now. I wish I were 
 lolling on one of my high shady seats at Craigcrook, 
 listening to the soothing wind among the branches. 
 And it is shocking to think how much all that scene 
 is disenchanted by its vicinity to my constituents. 
 
 The fleshly presence of ,* by whom 
 
 I am baited daily, helps, 1 doubt not, to enliven that 
 impression." — (To me, 16th July 1833). He re- 
 freshed himself by substitute scenes. " I do take 
 your advice and fly at the end of the week to my 
 wood nymphs. We came here last night, eight hours 
 before the Lords had read our bill for the second 
 time, and I have been all day wandering among the 
 ancient Druidical oaks and gigantic limes at Moor 
 Park, which is about four miles off, and full of 
 grandeur and beauty. What a country this old Eng- 
 land is. In a circle of twenty miles from this spot 
 (leaving out London and suburbs), there is more old 
 timber and superb residences than in all Scotland, and 
 with so little ostentation." — (To me, from Watford, 
 20th duly 1833). 
 
 It is sweet weather, and I pine hourly for 
 
 u 
 
 •• All dead ; ami mosl intolerable, wherever any opinion of 
 theirs was not instantly submitted to.
 
 THE GENTLE SHEPHERD. 349 
 
 shades, and leisure, and the Doric sounds of my 
 mother tongue ! I read through the Gentle Shep- 
 herd the other day at Malthus's, and cried plenti- 
 fully over the recollections it brought back to my 
 excited heart. I think I am decidedly better, hav- 
 ing sat in the House till after one this morning, and 
 walked home pleasantly at the breaking up. But I 
 shall keep to my hermit diet, and shall make a poor 
 figure at your symposia, if I do not mend my man- 
 ners before I come among you. Both Houses are 
 dropping their members like trees their leaves in 
 autumn. Town is visibly thinning, and begins to 
 have a deserted appearance. It is a mercy the pro- 
 rogation is still thought inevitable once a year." — 
 (To me, 6th August 1833). 
 
 The prorogation was now at hand. " The waters 
 grow shallower, with rather more rapidity." I ex- 
 pressed my sorrow for this, as it would prevent my 
 receiving more of his letters, which, in joke, I 
 threatened to publish, to which he says, — " You are 
 very kind about my letters, but if I thought there was 
 the least chance of their ever seems; the light, I fear 
 all feelings of kindness would be cancelled. I 
 sometimes laugh myself to think what a picture of 
 contradictions and rash prophecy they must exhibit. 
 The only thing I have not to blush for is, that I do 
 not think they indicate any base regard to self- 
 interest, or any personal malice or vindictiveness. I 
 think we must make a bonfire of them the first time 
 we dine quietly together at a winter lire-side, if that 
 is ever to be again." — (To me. 12th August 183.". .
 
 350 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 " Cobbet, and , and our worthy — 
 
 grow more radical and outrageous as the session 
 draws to a close ; in order, I suppose, that they may 
 go to their constituents with the sweet savour of these 
 offences fresh upon them, to counteract any odour of 
 reason or moderation that they may have contracted 
 in other parts of their course." " In other respects 
 we move rather steadily to our destined goal ; and 
 it seems universally thought that the curtain will be 
 dropped, and the audience dismissed, about the 27th. 
 Unless I have bad luck, therefore, I do not see why 
 I should not get away on the 24th or 25th. I pant 
 beyond expression for two days of absolute and un- 
 broken leisure. If it were not for my love of beautiful 
 nature and poetry, my heart would have died within 
 me long ago. I never felt before what immeasurable 
 benefactors these same poets are to their kind, and 
 how large a measure, both of actual happiness and 
 prevention of misery, they have imparted to the race. 
 I would willingly give up half my fortune, and 
 some little of the fragments of health and bodily 
 enjoyment that remain to me, rather than that 
 Shakspere should not have lived before me. And 
 so God bless you."— (To me, 16th August 1833). 
 
 The Burgh Bill, in spite of all its perils (some of 
 them not from its open enemies), was at last safe; 
 and looking back upon it and the reform of Parlia- 
 ment, he was well entitled to enjoy these reflec- 
 tions: — " If things, go right, I think 1 shall move on 
 Sunday <>r Monday. It makes me start when I 
 think of this as a reality, which I have been so long
 
 REFLECTIONS ON THE REFORM BILLS. 351 
 
 accustomed to cherish as a dream by night and a 
 vision only in the day. It is something to have had 
 even an official and accidental connection with two 
 such measures as Parliamentary and Burgh Reform ; 
 and if I have not made, or had occasion to make, 
 any great splash about them, I must say 1 think I 
 have been diligent and prudent in my management, 
 as I am sure I have been candid and open in every 
 stage of their discussion. I shall never have any 
 task of equal importance to perform, and should be 
 well enough pleased if this should be the last that 
 is required of me. Though I like London, and do 
 not dislike Parliament by any means, I rather think 
 I have had almost enough of them ; and that it 
 would be better for me to retreat to a calmer and less 
 elevated region, and glide through the remaining 
 course of my life in tranquillity. I shall not run 
 at once into the embraces of my constituents." — 
 (To me, 20th August 1833). 
 
 He left London on the 24th of August, and after 
 some English visits, reached Craigcrook about the 
 middle of September. Within twenty-four hours the 
 constituents found him out; but he "found them not 
 only thoroughly amicable, but greatly more reason- 
 able than I expected." The autumn and winter 
 were passed as usual ; and early in February he 
 returned to London, " with something of a heavy 
 heart and a shrinking spirit, and would rather have 
 flown away on a dove's wings, and been at rest. 
 But T suppose this will come sometime : and mean- 
 while 1 take it for granted that, when I am once in
 
 352 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 the battle, I shall imbibe the spirit of the scene, 
 and follow the multitude to do evil." — (To Mrs. 
 Craig, 9th February 1834). He certainly did. 
 These pensive aspirations after rest, though they 
 occurred in his visionary moments, seldom obstructed 
 his practical pursuits. During the three months of 
 this residence in London, he was often in the House 
 of Lords professionally, and a great deal in society, 
 but was chiefly occupied in the House and its com- 
 mittees on various local matters, which need not be 
 explained here, and had no result. Of these the most 
 important related to the old, and vexed, and now 
 useless, subject of patronage in the Church of Scot- 
 land, on which a committee had been obtained by 
 his friend Sir George Sinclair. While these things 
 were going on, a vacancy occurred on the bench of 
 the Court of Session, and he became a judge-. 
 
 " I am no longer in Parliament after two hours, 
 and no longer Lord-Advocate. A new writ will be 
 moved for Edinburgh to-night, on my acceptance of 
 office. I have just taken my last peep into that 
 turbulent, potent, heart-stirring, House of Commons, 
 and finished an hour ago the last argument I shall 
 ever deliver from any bar. There is something sad 
 in these finalities, and my present feeling is of that 
 character; but through this dimness 1 see a bright 
 vision of leisure, reason, and happiness. God bless 
 von, evei- yours. Remember I am, hereafter, only 
 V. .)., and no Franks."— (To me, 15th May 1833). 
 
 U I am so much flattered and condoled with 
 here, that I linger too fondly. But all that scene
 
 LEAVING LONDON. 
 
 will soon pass away now, and 1 shall by and by 
 forget it. as much as I ought to forget if." — (To me, 
 23d May L834 . 
 
 •■ And so here at last ends our metropolitan cor- 
 respondence ! and I really turn my back finally on 
 London, and betake myself to the venerable func- 
 tions of a judge. I wish I had more of the inward 
 vocation to the holy office. But I sup-pose it will 
 come, and 1 am quite sure I shall be delighted to 
 find myself once more in the midst of my oldest 
 and truest friends. In the meantime I cannot but 
 wish that the parting were fairly over, nor help ac- 
 knowledging that it has been, and is, attended with 
 pain. I have naturalised here perfectly, and have 
 been more kindly received than is good for my 
 modesty to remember, though I am sure it is not 
 bad for my heart. I have stuck to my social career 
 too, as dutifully as I did to my parliamentary. 
 On Saturday I dined with Eogers ; on Sunday at 
 Richmond; yesterday at Lady Park's; and to-day 
 at Holland House, with Lady Cowper, Duncannon, 
 Luttrel, and Sir A. Paget. Then I saw my bright 
 
 in the morning, and my dear at 
 
 night, and had such tender partings ! And I had a 
 long walk in the park yesterday with the Chancellor 
 and Duncannon, both as merry as school boys; and 
 sat an hour with Joanna Baillie, and my poor, sick 
 spirited, Mrs. ( lalcot. Well, there must be an end of 
 all things, and the end of one thing is the beginning 
 of another, and death of life, and so forth." — (To 
 me. 27th May 1834 . 
 
 VOI. I. 2 A
 
 354 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 To George Bell, the old and steady associate of 
 his obscure and penniless days, he intimated his 
 change of life thus — " You know I am out of Parlia- 
 ment, and about to be on the bench. I have had 
 a pang on parting with so much interest, excite- 
 ment, and kindness as have been shed over my 
 life here. But I do not doubt that I have done 
 right on the whole, for myself at all events, and 
 I hope not wrong for any other. I am not com- 
 posed enough to write deliberately, but the greatest 
 soother I can find, in my agitation, is the thought 
 of coining back to end my days where they began, 
 and among the few remaining friends from whom 
 I have never been for a moment divided in affec- 
 tion." — (To George Bell, Esq., London, 16th May 
 1834). 
 
 Before he came away he had the honour of 
 receiving a farewell banquet from the Scotch 
 members. About thirty-three attended, some of 
 whom were his political opponents. One of the 
 party, Avho, I believe, had a longer experience of 
 parliamentary speaking than any one there, wrote 
 to a friend here next day, " Jeffrey's speech at his 
 dinner yesterday was exquisitely beautiful. It was 
 perfect. I cannot say how much I was pleased 
 and charmed with it." His own account of the 
 party was this — " I had a jolly dinner with the 
 Scotch members on Tuesday — about thirty-two 
 present — two Tories, Gumming Bruce, and Pitfour. 
 Apologies in very kind terms from Sir William 
 Etae, and about, a dozen of our friends. They staid
 
 FAREWELL DINNER. 355 
 
 till one o'clock, and were not all sober." — (To me, 
 22dMay 1834). 
 
 This testimony proceeded partly from personal 
 liking; but it was also meant as an acknowledg- 
 ment of his official conduct. And certainly the 
 duties of the very trying situation he had just left 
 have never been performed, in such circumstances, 
 with greater industry, or fairness, or judgment; nor 
 was Scotland ever under the protection of a purer or 
 more enlightened public accuser. Some people 
 used to doubt if he was a good manager of men. 
 But these were generally persons who were urging 
 him to do something he disapproved of. And, at 
 any rate, some deficiency in the art of controlling 
 discordant parties, would be but a small deduction 
 from the merit of any counsel raised suddenly into 
 his position, even in peaceful times. But he was 
 called into public action at a period teeming with 
 projects, and he, nearly deserted by Government, 
 was left to the mercies of every county, city, parish, 
 public body, or person, who had an interest or a 
 fancy to urge. Thus encouraged, few opponents 
 were candid ; some friends obstinate ; no theorist 
 timid ; no applicant slack ; no blockhead modest. 
 Having done all that patience, reason, and kindness 
 could do to bring this chaos into order, the failure, 
 when it occurred, was their fault — not his. Let him 
 be tried by an)' one who has held hie office. Had it 
 not been for the steady aid of a few honest and 
 sensible men, neither he, nor any one else, could 
 have stood in the place lie then occupied. Of these
 
 356 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 friends, to him and to Scotland, lie always mentioned 
 the Earl of Minto and Mr. Kennedy, as entitled to 
 his gratitude, and to that of their country. Through- 
 out the whole composition of the Reform Bill, down 
 to the minutest criticisms, he had to receive the 
 remarks of a committee of sheriffs, whose duty it 
 was, they being the officers who were principally 
 to carry it into effect, to anticipate and to fancy 
 objections. But though there perhaps was not one 
 of them who would not have rejoiced in the failure 
 of the measure, their suggestions were made in a 
 fair spirit, and were therefore always gratefully 
 listened to, and to a great extent acted upon. Mr. 
 Cay, the intelligent Sheriff of Linlithgowshire, who 
 was their convener, informs me that throughout all 
 their many, and often rather teazing, objections and 
 proposals, pervading at least nine editions of the 
 bill, they found the Lord- Advocate not merely open 
 to explanation, but patient and reasonable. No 
 fact could be more honourable to the candour of 
 both parties. 
 
 It was also said that lie hud failed in Parliament; 
 and wonder was expressed how this could befall a 
 person of his ability and character. But, unless it 
 was as a speaker, lie did not fail. He was a regular 
 attender, a good voter, a wise adviser, and a popular 
 gentleman. Few men's opinions were more valued. 
 Can there not Jbe a good silent member? If all 
 those are to be held to have failed who do not speak 
 well and often, there are at least five hundred mem- 
 bers who have failed in every Parliament. As to
 
 Ills PARLIAMENTARY CAREER. 357 
 
 speaking, though he practised it much more, and 
 much better, than is commonly supposed, still, for 
 him, he must be deemed not to have succeeded. But 
 there is no difficulty in accounting for this. The 
 
 true wonder would have arisen if it had been other- 
 wise. 
 
 He was a lawyer-, who had entered the House at 
 fifty-seven, with a great reputation, a weakened 
 voice, and the certainty that his parliamentary 
 career could not extend beyond a very few years, 
 and might end at any moment. Nothing beyond 
 these facts could have been required to have ex- 
 plained his want of success, though it had been 
 complete and irrecoverable. But, in addition to 
 these obstacles, he was a member of the Govern- 
 ment; and his public words, therefore, were not his 
 own. There are some to whom this restraint is a 
 comfort. It justifies their silence, and directs them 
 what to say. But to Jeffrey's speculative head, and 
 nimble tongue, it operated as w^ater does upon fire. 
 
 Yet, beyond all question, he was an eloquent 
 man. And, though his power was not displayed in 
 the great national theatre, it was upon his eloquence 
 that much of his usefulness and reputation depended. 
 I have spoken of it partly already, and as it is 
 scarcely worth while describing anything so eva- 
 nescent and so common as good speaking in this 
 country, on its own account, I only add a few words 
 in order to identify the individual style. 
 
 His voice was distinct and silvery ; so clear and 
 precise, that, when in good order, it was heard
 
 358 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 above a world of discordant sounds. The utterance 
 was excessively rapid ; ° but without sputtering, 
 slurring, or confusion ; and regulated into deliberate 
 emphasis, whenever this was proper. The velocity 
 of the current was not more remarkable than its 
 purity and richness. His command of language was 
 unlimited. He used to say that if he had to subdue 
 the world by words, he would take his armour from 
 Jeremy Taylor. And in copiousness and brilliancy, 
 no living man came nearer the old divine. The mind 
 by which these fine weapons were wielded, was fully 
 qualified to use them. Eidicule, sarcasm, argument, 
 statement, pathos, or moral elevation — he could excel 
 in them all. The only defect was one which earlier 
 parliamentary practice must have corrected, and 
 which it is not easy to reconcile with the etherial 
 nature of his general style. It was, that his magical 
 facility led him into too much refinement, and con- 
 sequently into occasional tediousness. He did not 
 always rise to address an audience under the weight 
 of deep preparation, or under the awe inspired by a 
 large survey of his subject, but trusted to the imme- 
 diate workings of his own mind. This withdrew 
 him from the audience to himself; and, instead of 
 maintaining that constant and instinctive sympathy 
 
 I believe tin' story is quite true, thai a worthy man from 
 Glasgow, on whom he poured out a long torrent of vituperation in 
 an action for libel, after listening complacently till he was done, 
 said, " Well ! he lias spoken the whole English language thrice 
 over in two hours." lie had been so much warned against this 
 habit, in reference to Parliament, that sometimes he actually spoke 
 ''in bIowI'v there.
 
 Ills ELOQUENCE. 359 
 
 with his hearers, which enables a plainer speaker 
 to perceive his success or his failure at the moment 
 in their eyes, he was apt to be looking inwards, and 
 to Ix' enjoying the inventive process going on in his 
 own breast. This was an enjoyment with which 
 listeners could have no sympathy. The pleasure 
 was his, the weariness theirs. And the exercise 
 promoted the defect of too active refinement. So 
 just, with reference to all his peculiarities, was 
 Horner's saying, that if Jeffrey could only speak 
 slow, and add a cubit to his stature, and be a little 
 dull, nobody could oppose him. 
 
 When he was in a good state, and with anything 
 in the place, the occasion, or the subject, to repress 
 his fertility, and to subdue him to a simpler style, 
 his success was certain. His necessarily short ad- 
 dresses were almost always perfect. His appeal to 
 the jury in the case of Paterson, accused of poison- 
 ing his wife, when, not being able to dispute that 
 the prisoner had, at one time, intended to murder 
 her, he successfully turned the fact Into a ground for 
 urging that during the interval he must have for ever 
 recoiled from the guilt he had escaped ; his defence 
 for Mrs. Mackinnon, accused of stabbing a young 
 man to death, in a brawl in her disorderly house, 
 where he described the horrible nature of public 
 death to a female with some generous feelings, and 
 how sweet life was even to a prostitute and a sup- 
 posed murderess; his noble reply in the general as- 
 
 ■ It was from sitting all day under an open window, aA this 
 trial, that lie was first affected by that infirmity in liis throat which 
 recurred so distressingly throughout all the rest of his life.
 
 360 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 sembly for the minister of Incliture, in which his 
 picture of the situation of a deposed clergyman, con- 
 trasted with that of his brethren, who, after pro- 
 nouncing the sentence, were all to return to their 
 comfortable homes, saved that client from convic- 
 tion ; his speecdi to the public meeting of the inhabi- 
 tants of Edinburgh at the Pantheon; his graceful 
 and affectionate address on his first installation as 
 Lord Rector at Glasgow ; his lofty and scornful re- 
 ply to the jury for Sir James Craig, on the trial of 
 that gentleman's prosecution of the printer of a party 
 newspaper for libel, — these, and many others with 
 which our Edinburgh ears still thrill, were match- 
 less and unalloyed exhibitions — leaving impressions 
 which no rival effort, by any competitor, could 
 efface. 
 
 With a larger theatre than ours, and a more 
 formidable training, his parliamentary success would 
 have been sure and splendid. But he had no chance 
 in the circumstances in which he first tried the House 
 of Commons; partly because that, like every other 
 assembly, has its own local tastes, and tolerates no 
 other. Of these, the most extinguishing to an un- 
 practised hand is the necessity of personalities — 
 with which even instruction, to save it from being 
 tiresome, must apparently be savoured. There is 
 n<; denying the value of a weapon which is essential 
 for the moral discipline of any assembly, and, as in- 
 dividually directed, nia\ supply the most logical con- 
 elusions. But it is one. from which a new member 
 of any delicacy sin-inks, and which nothing hut long 
 familiarity with the proceedings and the individua-
 
 iris ELOQUENCE. 361 
 
 litics of the place can enable any one to use with 
 confidence and effect. Moreover, the frequent fail- 
 ures in Parliament of speakers who shine elsewhere, 
 are not always owing, as the regular House of Com- 
 mons man is apt to suppose, merely to the essential 
 superiority of the great scene; but to Parliament ac- 
 quiring a very peculiar criterion of excellence, and 
 having power to enforce submission to this, to the 
 exclusion of every other, style. There is every pre- 
 sumption that the best tone will be formed, and the 
 best standard be set up, and the fairest play be given, 
 in such a collection of such men ; but there is no 
 doubt that the distaste of everything that is strange 
 to their own habits and models does occasionally, 
 and especially when dealing with the audacity of a 
 provincial reputation, impair their perception of 
 merit, which, wherever the field was open, would 
 not be universally postponed to that of their own 
 idols. 
 
 Jeffrey's reception in all his previous visits to 
 London, where he had formed many valuable friend- 
 ships, had always been kind. But during the three 
 official years which he had mostly passed there, he 
 was still more extensively known and courted; and 
 this by various classes, including not only the lite- 
 
 * Horner accounts for his own silence, after being above two 
 years in Parliament, partly by this necessity. "There have been 
 some discouragements of a different nature; the petty war of poli- 
 tical personalities is exceedingly irksome to me (being personally not 
 implicated;, and I have witnessed but little else since 1 sat in the 
 Mouse."— Memoirs, i. 1 15.
 
 362 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 rary and political, but, to a certain extent, even the 
 fashionable. This popularity, by which he was less 
 elated than softened into gratitude, was the result of 
 his character and of his conversation. 
 
 The last I have not skill to describe, except 
 negatively. He was certainly a first-rate talker. 
 But he was not an avowed sayer of good things ", nor 
 did he deal, but very sparingly, in anecdote, or in 
 personalities, or in repartee; and he very seldom 
 told a story, or quoted ; and never lectured ; and 
 though perpetually discussing, almost never dis- 
 puted; and though joyous, was no great laugher. 
 What then did he do ? He did this : — His mind 
 was constantly full of excellent matter ; his spirit 
 was always lively ; and his heart was never wrong ; 
 and the effusion of these produced the charm. He 
 had no exclusive topics. All subjects were welcome; 
 and all found him ready, if not in knowledge, at 
 least in fancy. But literary and moral speculations 
 were, perhaps, his favourite pastures. And in these, 
 as in any region whatever, for nothing came amiss, 
 iie ranged freely, under the play of a gay and reason- 
 ing imagination; from no desire of applause, but 
 because it gratified his mental activity. Speaking 
 seemed necessary for his existence. The intellec- 
 tual fountains were so full, that they were always 
 bubbling over, and it would have been painful to 
 restrain them. For a great talker, he was very 
 little of an usurper. Everybody else had full 
 scope, and indeed w;is encouraged; and he himself, 
 though profuse, was never long at a time; except
 
 His CONVERSATION. 363 
 
 perhaps when giving an account of something of 
 which be was the mere narrator, when his length 
 depended on the thing to be told. Amidst all his 
 fluency of thought, and all his variety of matter, 
 a great part of the delight of his conversation arose 
 from its moral qualities. Though never assuming 
 the office of a teacher, his goodness of feeling was 
 constantly transpiring. No one could take a walk, 
 or pass a day, or an evening, with him, without 
 having all his rational and generous tastes confirmed, 
 and a steadier conviction than before, of the depend- 
 ence of happiness on kindness and duty. Let him be 
 as bold, and as free, and as incautious, and hilarious, 
 as he might, no sentiment could escape him that 
 tended to excuse inhumanity or meanness, or that 
 failed to cherish high principles and generous affec- 
 tions. Then the language in which this talent and 
 worth were disclosed ! The very words were a de- 
 light. Copious and sparkling, they often imparted 
 nearly as much pleasure as the merry or the tender 
 wisdom they conveyed. Those who left him might 
 easily retire without having any particular saying to 
 report, but never without an admiration of mental 
 richness and striking expression. His respect for 
 conversational power made him like the presence 
 of those who possessed it. But this was not at all 
 necessary for his own excitement, for he never 
 uttered a word for display, and was never in better 
 flow than in the ordinary society of those he was 
 attached to, however humble their powers, and al- 
 though they could give him no aid hut by affection
 
 364 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 and listening. There was so much in his own head 
 and heart, that, in so far as he was concerned, pour- 
 ing it out was enjoyment enough. It may appear 
 an odd thing to say, but it is true, that the listener's 
 pleasure was enhanced by the personal littleness of 
 the speaker. A large man could scarcely have 
 thrown off Jeffrey's conversational flowers without 
 exposing himself to ridicule. But the liveliness of 
 the deep thoughts, and the flow of the bright ex- 
 pressions, that animated his talk, seemed so natural 
 and appropriate to the figure that uttered them, that 
 they were heard with something of the delight with 
 which the slenderness of the trembling throat, and 
 the quivering of the wings, make us enjoy the 
 strength and clearness of the notes of a little 
 bird. 
 
 But it is idle in any one to speak on this sub- 
 ject after what has been said by one of the greatest 
 masters, and best critics of conversation. Sir James 
 Mackintosh says (Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 251), "We 
 saw, for the first time, Playfair and Jeffrey; the 
 first, a person very remarkable for understanding, 
 calmness, and simplicity ; the second more lively, 
 fertile, and brilliant, than any Scotchman of letters ; 
 with more imagery and illustration added to the 
 knowledge and argumentative powers of his country; 
 and more sure than any native of this island whom 
 I have seen, to have had splendid sueeess in the lite- 
 rary societies of Paris." If tins was true in 1812, 
 when Sir James wrote it, it was much truer in 1834 
 when Jeffrey left London, and when lie had had more
 
 LORDS OF SESSION. 365 
 
 experience of lite, and had seen a greater variety 
 of people, and had been more ripened by tin,. . 
 
 He took his scat on the bench on the 7th of 
 dune 1834. The Scotch Judges are styled Lords; 
 a title to which long usage lias associated feelings 
 of reverence in the minds of the people, who could 
 not now be soon made to respect or understand Mr. 
 Justice. During its strongly feudalised condition, 
 the landholders of Scotland, who were almost the 
 sole judges, were really known only by the names 
 of their estates. It was an insult, and in some 
 parts of the country it is so still, to call a laird by 
 his personal, instead of his territorial, title. While 
 this custom was universal, a man who was raised to 
 the bench naturally took his estate's name with him, 
 because it was the only name that he was known 
 by. Even lairds came, however, in time to be 
 identified by their christian and surnames. Yet, 
 for a while, the fashion of sinking the individual 
 appellation, and carrying the landed one to the 
 judgment seat, lingered ; not always from vanity, 
 but because it was natural for landholders to dignify 
 themselves by their estates, and their estates by 
 their judicial office. But this assumption of two 
 names, one official and one personal, and being ad- 
 dressed by the one and subscribing by the other, 
 is wearing out, and will soon disappear entirely. 
 Jeffrey had land enough to entitle him to sink his 
 honoured name in that of his bit of earth; but, like 
 many others, he did not choose to do it, and became 
 Lord Jeffrey.
 
 360 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 He had to be in Court at nine, which alarmed 
 him more than anything else in his new situation. 
 He tells Mrs. James Craig, Edinburgh, one of his 
 most cherished friends (26th of December 1834), 
 " I have certainly had rather hard work, but I do 
 not find it irksome. Even the early rising, which I 
 dreaded the most, proves very bearable. Certainly 
 in the whole of my past life, I never saw so many 
 sun-rises as since the beginning of November, and 
 they have been inexpressibly beautiful." 
 
 From the very first moment of his judicial ap- 
 pointment he cast all politics aside ; not his in- 
 terest in them, for this would have been to have re- 
 linquished his reason, but his practical interference 
 with them as a party man. If the election of his 
 best friend, and of the best member of parliament, 
 had depended on his vote, that candidate would 
 have lost the return. The most magnificent public 
 dinner ever given in Edinburgh was that to the 
 late Earl Grey, on the 15th of September 1834, im- 
 mediately after the first meeting here of the British 
 Association, lie sighed at not being there, fresh as 
 he was from all his personal and official connection 
 with the object of the festival. But he would not 
 attend ; and his only allusion to it in writing to 
 Mrs. Craig, about the recent scenes, is so faint as 
 scarcely to be visible. " You know we have had a 
 stirring time of it for the last months in these, lati- 
 tudes; first with our Savans, and then with our 
 politicians; and that our quiet home has been 
 agitated by the residence of chancellors and other
 
 AS A JUDGE. 367 
 
 dignitaries, and our provincial dullness enlivened by 
 
 the resort of vagrant metropolitans without num- 
 ber. But the tumult is now over. The comers 
 have all swept beyond our orbit, and left us to tin- 
 steadier influences of our old moon and stars ; and 
 here we are in our contented obscurity, and well 
 enough pleased witli our leisure and stupidity. It 
 is the loveliest weather; so calm, and bright, and 
 warm, that, but for the shortening days, it might 
 still be mistaken for midsummer. And the early 
 twilights only give a more solemn character to its 
 sweetness, and make me think more deeply and 
 tenderly of the summers that are gone, and the 
 eternal summer that is coming, never to pass away. 
 Well, there is comfort in these thoughts, and you 
 will not think them fantastical." — (5th October 
 1834). 
 
 The general course of his life, after becoming a 
 judge, exclusive of that part of it which was passed 
 in Court, was, that he was in London or its neigh- 
 bourhood almost every spring, at Craigcrook all 
 autumn, and in Edinburgh all winter ; and that the 
 hospitalities of his town and his country residences 
 went on nearly as they used to do. During the sit- 
 ting of the Court, the performance of his official 
 duties exhausted nearly his whole clay, the evenings 
 especially, and his spare time, whether during his 
 sittings or in vacation, was given to society, to cor- 
 respondence, to walking, to lounging in his garden, 
 and to the gratification of his appetite for reading. 
 For the indulgence of this last passion, he was very
 
 368 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 little indebted to any thing that could be called 
 a library of his own. For a lover of books, and for 
 one who had picked up a few, his collection was 
 most wretched ; and so ill cared for that the want 
 even of volumes never disturbed him. The science 
 of binding he knew nothing about, and therefore 
 despised, and most of his books were unbound. 
 These slatternly habits all arose from his believ- 
 ing that books were only meant to be read ; and 
 that, therefore, so as their words were visible, no- 
 thing else was required. It must have been in a 
 moment of infirmity that such a heretic allowed 
 himself (30th January 1826) to be made a member 
 of the Bannatyne Club, the only book association 
 of the kind with which he was ever connected. 
 
 In 1835 he completed the beauty and comfort of 
 Craigcrook by making his last and greatest addition 
 to the house. In doing so he took, and followed, 
 the advice of his friend William Playfair, Esq. — an 
 architect of whom Edinburgh is justly proud, and 
 avIio will leave many monuments of his taste in the 
 edifices that adorn it. This operation forced him to 
 quit the place for this summer ; and he found a 
 retreat at Skelmorlie, an old castle on the southern 
 shore of the Clyde (the most beautiful of all British 
 friths), with the sea at its feet, and glorious prospects 
 of Arran and Argyllshire on the opposite side. "I 
 have enjoyed my leisure exceedingly; perhaps, I 
 should say, my solitude, and certainly the entire so- 
 briety, which (out of solitude) is so difficult for some 
 people t<> maintain. 1 have done nothing ever since
 
 SKELMORLIE. 369 
 
 I came 5 to my heart's content, and with a deep 
 feeling of repose and tranquillity, which, except for 
 hours and half-hours, I have scarcely known for the 
 last five years. I do not rise early; yet not lair. 
 Breakfast leisurely in a cool massive parlour, with 
 deep-set windows on three sides, one looking 
 through a loop-hole of the wood out on the sil- 
 ver sea ; study the newspapers as a man must do 
 on a remote island ; lounge about in the woods ; 
 read idle snatches of Shakspere, and Fletcher, and 
 Keats, and Shelley ; sit watching seals, and por- 
 poises, and yachts, and steam-vessels, and clouds 
 playing with the peaks of Arran, and the little 
 waves that are splashing round my feet, and the 
 wild thyme, and the bees, and the white houses 
 gleaming round the shores of the mountains, bays, 
 and promontories before me ; and the shells and 
 pebbles that engaged the leisure of Scipio and 
 Lcelius, in a world in which nothing was like our 
 world but the said shells and pebbles, and the 
 minds of virtuous men resting from their labours. 
 Well, will you not come and see? only I will not 
 go to Arran, or any other foreign port, on or be- 
 yond seas on any consideration." " I have bathed 
 twice, yet I have still dyspepsy. Herrings are 
 scarce, and salmon plenty, though rather of a poor 
 description. The whitings are not so fine as they 
 used to be. Milk and eggs excellent, and (for those 
 who dare eat them) the most beautiful cherries in 
 the world."— (To me, 25th July 1835). 
 
 VOL. I. 2 B
 
 370 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 He wrote to me (22d August 1835) that " The 
 only want I feel is of some vigorous intellect to 
 grapple with. I do not know Avhether poor Sir 
 Harry's idiocy of rustication is beginning with me;* 
 but I certainly feel that I read more passively than 
 I used to do, and flatter myself that I am wisely 
 taking in materials for after suggestion, when I am 
 truly storing up food for oblivion only ; but I am 
 very resigned any way, and, after three score, per- 
 haps nothing better is to be desired." 
 
 Since he only wanted a vigorous intellect to 
 grapple with, I again exhorted him, but not very 
 seriously, for I knew it was in vain, to grapple with 
 his own, by trying some work of original composi- 
 tion. To this he says, " I have been delighting 
 myself with Mackintosh. I only got the book two 
 days ago, and have done nothing but read it ever 
 since. The richness of his mind intoxicates me. And 
 yet do not you think he would have been a happier 
 man, and quite as useful and respectable, if he had 
 not fancied it a duty to write a great book. And is 
 not this question an answer to your exhortation to 
 me to write a little one? I have no sense of duty 
 that way, and feel that the only sure or even pro- 
 bable result of the attempt would be hours and days 
 of anxiety, and unwholesome toil, and a closing scene 
 of mortification."— (28th August 1835). 
 
 Sir Harry Moncriefr" used to say that no man long accustomed 
 to the habits of an active city life of business, could retire and muse 
 in the country i'^v six months, without becoming an idiot.
 
 LORD RUTHERFURD. oil 
 
 It would have been no such thing. It would 
 have given him occupation, usefulness, and fame. 
 The obstinate weakness of this feeling recurs to us, 
 now that it is all over, with increased pain. No 
 man could more certainly have charmed posterity 
 by some great original work. We have lost it by 
 his periodical writing. 
 
 However, while at Skelmorlie, he wrote the ex- 
 cellent article published in the Review, in October 
 (No. 125, art. 11), in which he records the grounds 
 of his so loving and admiring Sir James. 
 
 He was gratified next year by an event which 
 gave him the greatest satisfaction. He had become 
 acquainted with Mr. Andrew Rutherford, soon after 
 the latter had entered the Faculty of Advocates in 
 1812, and had very early marked and cherished him 
 as a young man of great promise. Their acquaint- 
 ance soon grew into friendship ; and was followed 
 by habits of the most intimate confidence. It was 
 with the greatest delight therefore that, in the spring 
 of 1837, he witnessed his friend's first advance into 
 public life by his promotion to the office of Solicitor- 
 General. He knew that it opened the way to the 
 higher station of Lord- Advocate ; for which he held 
 
 * " You must some day or other bring your thoughts on the 
 philosophy of poetry and poetic expression into the form of a 
 systematic essay ; which I shall insist on your polishing with much 
 care. That, and a little treatise on the ethics of common life, and 
 the ways and means of ordinary happiness, are the works which I 
 bespeak from you for aftortimos." — (Horner to Jeffrey, Memoirs, 
 ii. 53\
 
 372 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Mr. Rutherfurd to be pre-eminently qualified. He 
 was not disappointed. In about two years the 
 Solicitor was raised to this situation ; which he held, 
 with some political interruptions, till 1851, when he 
 became a judge, life was not allowed to accomplish 
 all that he intended ; but he did enough to have his 
 official history recorded in some of the wisest 
 changes that have recently improved the legal and 
 economical condition of this country. The statute 
 (11 and 12 Victoria, chap. 3G) which dissolves the 
 iron fetters by which, for about 160 years, nearly 
 three-fourths of the whole land in Scotland was 
 made permanently unsaleable, and unattachable for 
 debt, and every acre in the kingdom might be 
 bound up, throughout all ages, in favour of any 
 heirs, or any conditions, that the caprice of each un- 
 fettered owner might be pleased to proscribe, was his 
 great work. Prejudice prevented him from correct- 
 ing the absurdities of our marriage law, and from 
 introducing a humane system of police for destitute 
 lunacy ; but it may be predicted with absolute cer- 
 tainty that these measures will be passed one day; 
 and on that day he will be remembered. Mean- 
 while, lie did enough to make his brethren of the 
 bar take the rare step, on his recent elevation to the 
 bench, of recording " the high satisfaction with 
 which they have witnessed the promotion of another 
 distinguished member of the bar — the late Lord-Ad- 
 vocate; to whom the country and the profession are 
 deeply indebted for important public services; and
 
 SIE WILLIAM ALLAN. 373 
 
 expressing their hope that Lord Rutherfurd may 
 
 lon<>- In- enabled to devote the eminent talents which 
 have adorned his professional and official career, to 
 the administration of those laws which his legislative 
 measures have so materially contributed to mature 
 and improve." — (Faculty Resolution, 23d May 1851.) 
 Jeffrey did not live to bear a testimony, in the justice 
 of which he would have cordially rejoiced. There 
 was no one, in point of time in the secondary for- 
 mation of his friendships, to whom, in public pro- 
 ceedings and in private life, he was more thoroughly 
 united; and the nearness of their two beautiful 
 country places gave them peculiar opportunities of 
 discussion and enjoyment. 
 
 On the 9th of March 1838 lie joined a large party 
 who dined together in honour of the late Sir William 
 Allan, whose professional eminence had raised him 
 to the second presidency of the Royal Scottish Aca- 
 demy. Sir William was the immediate object of the 
 meeting; but it had an indirect and more important 
 reference to that extraordinary rise in art, which, 
 both in the native artists we have retained, and in 
 those we have given England, has distinguished the 
 modern progress of Scotland; and on account of 
 which the Academy had been recently established. 
 Jeffrey made a striking address ; expressive of his 
 belief, and its reasons, that, in spite of its northern 
 sky, this country might attain as much eminence in 
 art as it bad already done in other intellectual pur- 
 suits. The thirteen years that have since passed
 
 374 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 have greatly tended to confirm the soundness of this 
 opinion. 
 
 On the 27th of June 1838 his daughter was 
 married to William Empson, Esq., Professor of 
 Law at the East India College, Haileybury ; a union 
 from which, after the pang of parting with his only 
 child was over, he derived the greatest delight. 
 Besides deepening and extending his domestic affec- 
 tions, it multiplied his refreshing visits to England, 
 and enlivened his autumns by the Empsons' returns 
 to Craigcrook ; and it gave him these nice little 
 grandchildren, some of them living with him almost 
 always, in whom his heart was wrapt. 
 
 In 1840 he tried his hand, for the first time, upon 
 a monumental inscription. It was for the founda- 
 tion stone of Scott's Monument. He was requested 
 by the committee to furnish it, but refused at first, 
 believing himself incapable. At last, as he was 
 walking out one day to Craigcrook, it occurred to 
 him as an odd thing to write what was meant never 
 to be seen, and this led him on, and before he had 
 reached home, he had composed the following rather 
 striking statement : —
 
 INSCRIPTION FOR SCOTT'S MONUMENT. 375 
 
 " THIS GRAVEN PLATE, 
 
 DEPOSITED IN THE BASE OF A VOTIVE HUH. DIM; 
 
 on THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF AUGUST I.N THE YEAR OK CHRIST 1-1 I, 
 
 AND DESTINED NEVER TO SEE Till. LIGHT AGAIN 
 
 TILL THE SURROUNDING STRUCTURES ARE CRUMBLED TO DUST 
 
 BY THE DECAY OF TIME, Oil BY HUMAN OB ELEMENTAL YIOLEN( E, 
 
 MAY THEN TESTIFY TO A DISTANT POSTERITY THAT 
 
 THE CITIZENS ()F EDINBURGH BEGAN ON THAT DAY 
 
 To RAISE AN EFFIGY AND AN ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENT 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF SIR WALTER SCOTT; 
 
 WHOSE ADMIRABLE WRITINGS WERE THEN ALLOWED 
 
 TO SAVE GIVEN MOLT. DELIGHT, AND SUGGESTED BETTER FEELINGS 
 
 TO A LARGER (LASS of READERS IN EVERY KANE OF SOCIETY 
 
 THAN THOSE or ANY OTHER AUTHOR, 
 
 WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SHAKSPERE ALONE: 
 
 AND WHICH THEREFORE WERE THOUGHT LIKELY TO BE REMEMBERED 
 
 LONG AFTER THIS ACT OF GRATITUDE, 
 
 ON Till'. PART OF THE FIRST GENERATION OF HIS ADMIRERS, 
 
 SHOULD BE FORGOTTEN. 
 
 HE WAS BORN AT EDINBURGH 15TH AUGUST 1771 ; 
 AND DIED AT ABBOTSFORD 21ST SEPTEMBER 1832." 
 
 Iii the autumn of this year lie wrote the article on 
 Wilberforce's Correspondence, which was published 
 in No. 145 of the Review. 
 
 On Saturday, the 5th of June 1841, instead of 
 receiving the engaged Craigcrook party, he gave his 
 friends a dreadful fright by fainting in Court. The 
 attack was so severe and so sudden, that if his friend 
 Mr. Thomas Maitland, who happened to be plead- 
 ing before him, had not made 1 a spring and caught 
 
 ■" Since Solicitor-General, and afterwards Lord Dundrennan, 
 one of the judges.
 
 376 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 him, he must have fallen. He soon recovered from 
 the direct attack, which, in itself, was found not to 
 be material, though by no means insignificant as a 
 symptom. In renewing the party for the Saturday 
 following, he hopes that they will come, " to let 
 me repair, in some degree, the shabby trick I played 
 you last week." 
 
 But this trick, or its cause, affected him longer 
 than he anticipated. He could not resume the per- 
 formance of his duties in court, beyond a few feeble 
 attempts, that session ; and after lingering in Edin- 
 burgh, which was thought safer than Craigcrook, 
 till August, he went to Haileybury. He was soon 
 attacked there so severely by bronchitis, that his 
 life was scarcely preserved. Foreseeing that he 
 could not be in court when it met about the 
 middle of November, he was inclined to resign in- 
 stantly. Being exhorted to think well before tak- 
 ing such a step, as there might be opposite views 
 even of its high-mindedness, he said, " I very much 
 agree with you as to resignation. Nothing in this 
 world shall induce me to retain office a single 
 hour after I am permanently disabled from its duties. 
 That I have always thought nothing less indeed 
 than the meanest of dishonesties. But, on the other 
 hand, when the strong probability is that the dis- 
 ability will prove temporary only, there would plainly 
 be a similar dishonesty in snatching at idleness, 
 and a retiring allowance, by representing it as per- 
 manent."— (To me, 30th October 1841). 
 
 Application was made to the Home Office for
 
 DECLINING HEALTH. .S77 
 
 leave of absence, and this was at once granted in 
 very handsome terms. 
 
 He went to London about the 17th of Novem- 
 ber for advice, and remained there for some months. 
 A formal explanation of his exaet state, though not 
 justifying any despair, was enough to have alarmed 
 most men, hut was cheerfully received by him. 
 " I had my grand consultation of three doctors on 
 Sunday, having called in Chambers in aid of the 
 other two; and the result was very much, as T think 
 I told you, the council of two had intimated before, 
 viz., that though there was no organic, or special 
 progressive, disease, I must not expect ever to be 
 much better than I now am, and should lay my ac- 
 count with always suffering in a degree from weak 
 and disordered circulation, and being liable to oc- 
 casional bronchial irritation. Few people, they 
 said, get to my time of life without finding some of 
 the vital functions impaired or disordered, and I 
 had used up my vitality, and tasked my powers, 
 they believed, a great deal more prodigally than the 
 common run of their patients. Still, however, as 
 all the machinery seemed substantially sound, and 
 energy enough left still to work it for ordinary pur- 
 poses, they thought, by due care and caution, and 
 sparing myself, both mind and body, for the future, 
 they saw no cause why I should not merely live on 
 in good comfort for man}' years to come, but even 
 improve considerably on my present condition; and 
 at all events to such an extent as to enable me to 
 do all the work that ought ever to be required from
 
 378 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 a person of my standing. Now this, it must be 
 owned, is not over and above encouraging, and 
 amounts, I think, to a pretty distinct intimation that 
 my May of life (though there is some impudence I 
 own in my usurping the name of that month) is 
 fallen into the sere and yellow leaf, and that I must 
 hereafter live a regulated, careful, valetudinarian, 
 sort of life. No more dining out, or giving dinners, 
 or appearing at the best like a death's head at these 
 festivals, and puling upon two slices of meat and 
 two glasses of sherry ! No going out at night, or 
 sitting up late to write or read, wearing trot-cosies, 
 and comforters, taking no long fast walks, and 
 shrinking from autumn showers and spring breezes. 
 I do not pretend to like such an Avenir ; but as I 
 suppose I cannot help myself, I try to make the 
 best of it, and if I can only make sure of that 
 4 which should accompany old age,' and escape the 
 danger of ' curses ' or ' mouth honour,' I dare say I 
 shall get on very well ; only I am afraid I shall be 
 impatient till I see some of my brothers lose their 
 tails also."— (To me, 22d February 1842). 
 
 He gave a similar account of his being fixed, 
 "with regimen and restraints," "or a lower level 
 of vitality," to Mr. Rutherford, and adds, " 1 hope 1 
 shrdl submit to them cheerfully, and even acquire a 
 taste for the hermit and self-denying life which 1 
 am now entering. But just at present, I must 
 honestly confess, I would have preferred sticking 
 a Little Longer to my pleasant vices ; and cannot help 
 feeling, too, like the voluptuaries in Juvenal, upon 

 
 DECLINING HEALTH. 379 
 
 whom, while they arc still calling for wine, women, 
 and garlands, ' obrepit non intellecta Senectus.' ' 
 
 His letters and his conversations throughout this 
 long illness, and throughout all his bodily weak- 
 nesses, were always so full of the details and the 
 severities of his afflictions, that a stranger might con- 
 clude cither that his health was generally hopeless, 
 or that he was a poor spirited patient. But the 
 truth is just the reverse. Though seized by one or 
 two dangerous attacks, and peculiarly subject to the 
 encroaching infirmities of age, his life was on the 
 whole healthy, and when necessary, there could 
 scarcely be a more resolute sufferer. But a restless 
 fancy, and an unfortunate sprinkling of medical 
 knowledge, were apt to set him a speculating on the 
 structure and working of his own system ; and on 
 this topic, so fertile and interesting to every invalid, 
 he of course got easily eloquent, generally to the 
 diversion of others. One of the difficulties that all 
 his doctors had to encounter was, to hear, and then 
 to refute, or to evade, the theories of the patient. 
 But when anything had to be submitted to, passively 
 or actively, he did it bravely. And the moment 
 that the self-description or self-condolence was over, 
 or even while it was going on, he was ready for his 
 friends. For example, when he went from Hailcy- 
 bury to London, on the 17th of November L841, he 
 writes that they were obliged to have in the carriage 
 " such wrappings, and hot water, and wax candles." 
 But in a day or two he was receiving visitors — in a 
 few more lie was driving out — and long before the
 
 380 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 month, was over, " I continue to drive out every day, 
 and think I am less exhausted by it than at first. I 
 have seen several people for very short visits — Syd- 
 ney Smith, Macaulay, Lady Theresa Lister, Miss 
 Berry, Rogers, Hallam, Brougham, Lord Campbell, 
 Carlyle, and a few more — all of whom behaved very 
 well in going away soon, and allowing me to speak 
 
 but little, except who sat an hour, and made 
 
 me talk so much, I coughed all the evening after. 
 I am to see Dickens to-morrow, who is just returned 
 from the country in perfect health, and luxuriating 
 in the honeymoon of his year of idleness." — (To 
 me, 30th November 1842). 
 
 He left London about the middle of March 
 (1842), and went for about two months to Clifton, 
 and then to Haileybury, previous to his return to 
 Edinburgh. At Haileybury he received intelli- 
 gence of the sudden death of Sir Charles Bell, which 
 took place in England on the 29th of April. " This 
 is a sad blow, the loss of good, kind-hearted, happy, 
 Charlie Bell. It met me here on my arrival. I do 
 not know whether poor George or his wife is most 
 to be pitied, but the loss will be terrible and irre- 
 parable to both. Except George himself, I have not 
 so old and intimate a friend left, and it may be a 
 kind of comfort to think that I cannot have many 
 more such losses to bear. We were familiar from 
 boyhood, and though much separated from residence 
 and occupation, never had a notion of alienation, or 
 ;i cessation of that cordiality and reliance on each
 
 DEATHS OF CHARLES BELL AND MOREHEAD. 381 
 
 other's affection, which is also a comfort even now." 
 (To me, 8th May 1842).° 
 
 He resumed his place in court (in May 1842) 
 in a very good state, and continued in Scotland all 
 the rest of this year, mostly at home, and in full 
 judicial vigour. 
 
 In December lie had to endure another seven- 
 affliction. Mr. Robert Morehead died on the loth 
 of that month. His feelings on this visitation were 
 thus expressed in a letter to the widow: — "My 
 dear Margaret — I need not say that Phemie/s com- 
 munication gave us a sharp pang, and the event 
 must have been longer and more clearly foreseen 
 by you, I imagine, than even by us. But when the 
 blow does at last fall, these anticipations do not 
 
 * Jeffrey afterwards wrote the following Epitaph, which is now 
 on a tablet in the parish church of Hallow, near AVorcester, where 
 Sir Charles was buried : — 
 
 SACKED TO THE .MEMORY 
 Of 
 
 SIR CHARLES BELL, 
 
 Who, after unfolding 
 
 Witli unrivalled sagacity, patience, and success, 
 
 The wonderful structure of our mortal bodies, 
 
 Esteemed lightly of his greatest discoveries, 
 
 Except only 
 
 As they tended to impress himself and others 
 
 With a deeper sense 
 
 of 
 
 The infinite wisdom and ineffable goodness 
 
 of 
 
 The Almighty Creator. 
 
 He was born at Edinburgh in 1774. 
 And died in England 29th of April 1842.
 
 382 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 save us from a shock ; and in the case of those 
 whose strength has been impaired by watching, 
 while their thoughts have been partly distracted by 
 constant occupation, I fear it is often felt more 
 severely than they themselves are prepared for. I 
 shall therefore be anxious to learn that you and dear 
 Lockey and Phemie have not suffered, and that you 
 are bearing this great affliction with courage and re- 
 signation. It must always be a great consolation 
 to you to know that you not only soothed and 
 cheered his closing days by your kind and devoted 
 attention, but that to your constant and judicious 
 care of him for many preceding years he was in- 
 debted, not only for the chief enjoyments of these 
 years, but most probably for their being added to his 
 existence. For myself, though unavoidably much 
 separated from him of late years, I can truly say that 
 my love and regard for him has never suffered a mo- 
 ment's abatement ; and that though it is sad enough, 
 God knows, to have to lament the loss of nearly the 
 last of my friends of early life, it is still very gratify- 
 ing to look back upon an intimacy of more than half 
 a century with the feeling that there never was an 
 hour of misunderstanding between us, nor a, chill 
 iu the warmth, or a passing cloud on the bright- 
 ness, of our mutual affection. When you can recur 
 to it without too much pain, I think I should like 
 to have a more particular account of his last days, 
 and to know how his patience and trust in the Gnat 
 Being to whom he was returning, sustained him 
 through the final struggle. I shall likewise he
 
 JUDICIAL EMINENCE. 383 
 
 glad, by and by, to have a copy of the work which 
 occupied so many of his parting hours; and, above 
 all, to learn what changes, if any, in your plans of 
 life and domestic arrangements this removal of the 
 head of the house is likely to occasion. Poor little 
 Mary was very greatly moved, I understand, when 
 the melancholy news was broken to her. Charlotte 
 and I have had long talks of you ever since, as 
 well as good Martha Brown, who has this morning 
 returned to Langfine." — (10th December 1842). 
 
 On the 22d of November of this year (1842), a 
 material change took place in his judicial position. 
 According to usage, he had hitherto been acting in 
 a court by himself, where decisions are seldom given 
 openly and verbally, but in the form of written 
 judgments, with notes explanatory of their reasons, 
 all prepared after debate and consideration of written 
 papers at home, and every adjudication liable to the 
 review of another branch of the court. Except for 
 its comparative obscurity, this situation w r as not in 
 all respects unfavourable for Lord Jeffrey. It tended 
 to repress his discursiveness, and enabled him to 
 enrich the reports with many admirable opinions 
 written deliberately by himself. But he was now 
 removed into the first of the two divisions into 
 which the Court of Session is separated, where he 
 had three brother judges, and more publicity ; 
 where all causes were argued, and all judgments 
 delivered, in open court ; and there was no review 
 except in the House of Lords. This was a more 
 difficult and responsible position. He would have
 
 884 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 succeeded with any of his brethren, and they with 
 him ; but he was certainly happily placed beside the 
 three with whom it was his lot to act. They were 
 all men of talent and learning, fond of their work, 
 and very friendly towards each other ; men by 
 whom even Jeffrey's intellect was sharpened, and 
 before whom he could never be too ingenious without 
 detection. Nothing higher can be said of any tri- 
 bunal than that, in addition to the various powers 
 of Lord Jeffrey, it contained the long experience 
 and great practical sagacity of the Lord President 
 Boyle ; the acute and intelligent logic of Lord Ful- 
 lerton, — combining, with rare felicity, the often 
 separated qualities of great fineness with great 
 soundness of understanding ; and the curious talent 
 of Lord Mackenzie — amiable amidst the fiercest 
 contention, and solving in playfulness the abstrusest 
 difficulties ; whose gentleness of disposition and 
 awkward feebleness of manner contrasted amusingly 
 with the riches of a very working mind ; which, 
 wh ether exercised in courts or in society, was 
 always intrepid and original. That w T as as good 
 a court as Scotland ever saw; and these four men 
 would have elevated any judicial tribunal, in any 
 country to the law of which they might have been 
 trained. Jeffrey was much attached to them all. 
 Fullerton, indeed, and Mackenzie, were his old per- 
 sonal friends. 
 
 Notwithstanding one questionable habit, the 
 judicial duties have rarely been better performed 
 than they were by him. His ability need not be
 
 JUDK 1AI. EMINENCE. 
 
 mentioned — nor the sensitiveness of his candour -nor 
 his general aptitude for the law. Surpassed, per- 
 haps, by one or two in some of the more mystical 
 depths of the law of real property, his general legal 
 learning was more than sufficient to enable him, after 
 ordinary argument, to form sound views, and to de- 
 fend them, even on these subjects. The industry 
 that had turned the vivacity of his youth to account, 
 and had marked all his progress, followed him to the 
 bench. His opinions were always given fully, and 
 with great liveliness, and great felicity of illustra- 
 tion. His patience, for so quick a person, was nearly 
 incredible. He literally never tired of argument, 
 and therefore had rather a leaning against all de- 
 vices for shortening proceedings not on matters of 
 mere form. This was partly the result of a bene- 
 volent anxiety to make parties certain that they had 
 at least been fully heard ; but it also proceeded from 
 his own pleasure in the game. Though not exactly 
 denying the necessity of rules for ending discussion, 
 he scarcely liked them; and half pitied a party 
 whose desire to say still more on his own matter, 
 which was everything to him, was resisted for the 
 convenience of other matters, for which he cared 
 nothing ; and has been known to say, that if there 
 was only one cause in the world it would never end ; 
 and why should it? What are other causes to a 
 man who has not done with his own? He who was 
 inclined to hold this paradox must have been a very 
 patient judge. It was his patient activity that re 
 conciled him to it, even as a paradox. 
 vol. i. 2 c
 
 386 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 The questionable thing in his judicial manner 
 consisted in an adherence to the same tendency that 
 had sometimes impaired his force at the bar — speak- 
 ing too often and too long. He had no idea of 
 sitting, like an oracle, silent, and looking wise *, and 
 then, having got it all in, announcing the result in 
 as many calm words as were necessary, and in no 
 more. Delighted with the play, instead of waiting 
 passively till the truth should emerge, he put him- 
 self, from the very first, into the position of an 
 enquirer, whose duty it was to extract it by active 
 processes. His error lay in not perceiving that it 
 would be much better extracted for him by counsel, 
 than it generally can be by a judge. But disbeliev- 
 ing this, or disregarding it, his way was to carry on 
 a running margin of 'questions, and suppositions, 
 and comments, through the whole length of the 
 argument. There are few judges in whom this 
 habit would be tolerated. It is di sa greeable to 
 counsel, disturbs other members of the court, and 
 exposes the individual to inaccurate explanation 
 and to premature impression. But, as done by 
 Jeffrey, it had every alleviation that such a practice 
 admits of. It was done with great talent; with 
 perfect gentleness and urbanity ; solely from an 
 anxiety to reach justice ; with no danger to the 
 ultimate formation of his opinion ; and with such 
 kindly liveliness, that the very counsel who was 
 stranded by it, liked the quarter from which the 
 gale had blown. Accordingly, he was exceedingly 
 popular with every body, particularly with the bar;
 
 NIK FREE I HUKCH. »8^ 
 
 and the judicial character could not hi' more revered 
 than it was in him by the public. 
 
 It was in the month of May 1843 that the 
 Established Church of Scotland was rent in twain, 
 by the secession of those who formed themselves 
 into the Free Church. However anxious to avoid 
 polemical matter, it would be wrong not to state 
 what Lord Jeffrey's opinion was, since he had a 
 very decided one, on this the greatest event that 
 has occurred in Scotland since the rebellion in 1745, 
 if not since the Union. 
 
 The contest at first was merely about patronage. 
 The owners, or patrons, of livings insisted that the 
 practice of their presentees being inducted into 
 parishes, if they were under no legal disqualifica- 
 tion, however odious they might be to the pari- 
 shioners, which practice had subsisted for a consider- 
 able period, should be continued ; while the people 
 maintained that this practice was a mere abuse, and 
 one so offensive that it had for 100 years been the 
 source of all the dissent by which the church had 
 been weakened, and that popular unacceptability 
 was of itself a ground on which the church courts 
 were entitled to reject. Each of these views had 
 its party in the General Assembly. But this point 
 was soon lost sight of, absorbed in the far more 
 vital question, whether the church had any spiri- 
 tual jurisdiction independent of the control of the 
 civil power. This became the question on which 
 the longer coherence of the elements of the church 
 depended. The judicial determination was, in effect,
 
 388 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 that no such jurisdiction existed. This was not the 
 adjudication of any abstract political or ecclesias- 
 tical nicety. It was the declaration, and as those 
 who protested against it held, the introduction, of a 
 principle which affected the whole practical being 
 and management of the Establishment. On this 
 decision being pronounced, those who had claimed 
 this jurisdiction, which they deemed an essential 
 and indispensable part of what they had always un- 
 derstood to be their church, felt that they had no 
 course except to leave a community to which, as it 
 was now explained, they had never sworn allegi- 
 ance. They accordingly seceded. And the result 
 has been this. 
 
 Out of an Established clergy of about 1000 or 
 1100 ministers, 453 left the Establishment, followed 
 in general by almost their whole congregations 
 and elders. Their adherents in that true Church 
 of Scotland (as they deem it) which then arose, 
 have been increasing ever since, and now form 739 
 sanctioned congregations, besides 98 preaching sta- 
 tions ; being 837 congregations in all. Deducting 
 charges that are vacant, preaching stations, and 
 congregations that have not yet called ministers, 
 which three classes are supplied by authorised pro- 
 bationers, there arc 623 ministers on the public 
 Sustentation Fund. About G90 churches have been 
 built, between 400 and 500 manses, about 400 
 school houses, and a college. For these and other 
 purposes, the people have contributed about three 
 millions of pounds sterling; of which £2,475,616
 
 Till-: FREE CHURCH. 389 
 
 lias been paid into the public account, and above 
 £500,000 has been expended locally. 
 
 No public event had occurred in Lord Jeffrey's 
 time, in which he took a deeper interest. He fore- 
 saw what was coining above a year before it hap- 
 pened, and then said, " I am grieved to the heart at 
 the prospects of our church, but I think her doom 
 is sealed ; all which might have been prevented, 
 had," &c. " And what a thing it is that the — 
 should have brought upon Scotland the infinite 
 misery of her Established Church being that of a 
 minority of her people, or at least of her religious 
 people." — (To me, 2d February 1842). And within 
 a few weeks of the event, referring to one of the 
 unfortunate discussions by which it almost seemed 
 as if the object had been to hide the approach of 
 the catastrophe, instead of intelligently trying to 
 avert it, he said — " Did you ever see a more tyran- 
 nical or short-sighted discussion than that on our 
 poor church in the House of Lords. I am anxious 
 to hear what her champions and martyrs are now 
 doing, and what is understood to be their plan of 
 operation at the Assembly. It will be a strange 
 scene any way, and I suppose there will be a sepa- 
 ration into two Assemblies," &c. — (To me, 4th April 
 1843). 
 
 He declared his opinion from the bench, to be 
 hostile to what he held to be the novelty sanctioned 
 by a majority of his brethren, and confirmed in t la- 
 House of Lords ; and, on the other aspects of the 
 case, looking at them without ecclesiastical bigotry,
 
 390 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 ambition, or faction, of which he never had the very 
 slightest touch, and solely with a secular eye, his 
 feelings were entirely with the people. 
 
 His view was, that in theory, and while matters 
 are all open, every pretence of exclusive ecclesias- 
 tical jurisdiction is to be received with distrust and 
 alarm ; but that the Church of Scotland, which 
 had owed its existence to its defiance of the civil 
 supremacy that had been claimed by the Stewarts, 
 had been revived when the Stewarts were put 
 down, as it had been originally founded, on the 
 very principle of its independence in spiritual 
 matters ; that in the modern conflict it was de- 
 manding nothing but what had immemorially been 
 assumed in practice, and even in judicial prac- 
 tice, to be its right ; that instead of implying 
 ecclesiastical tyranny, the system had worked so 
 well that there never was a church better fitted 
 for the people, or to which the people were more 
 attached ; that though, as usual in such collisions, 
 there were faults and extravagances on all sides, 
 the dispute might have been adjusted, if Govern- 
 ment had interfered under a due intelligence of the 
 danger ; but that deluded by the error that this was 
 not a question with the people, but only with a few 
 restless priests, and alarmed for English conse- 
 quences, and smiling at the idea of clergymen re- 
 nouncing livings, it virtually abdicated its authority, 
 mid never put itself into the state of mind necessary 
 tor averting a danger which it was assured did not 
 exist; that the ealaniih might have been almosl
 
 HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO Till; REVIEW. 391 
 
 avoided by the mere concessions that were made to 
 the people after it had occurred ; that the church, 
 as expounded, being a thing that they had never 
 understood it to be, honest men who held this 
 opinion, could do nothing but leave it; that the 
 heroism with which this was done made him u proud 
 of his country ;" and that the magnificent sacrifices by 
 which, year after year, the secession had been fol- 
 lowed, showed the strong sincerity, and the genuine 
 Scotticism, of the principles on which the movement 
 had depended. 
 
 He was painfully afflicted this autumn by the 
 death of George Joseph Bell (2d September 1843); 
 one of his earliest friends ; an honest and ill-used 
 man. 
 
 Though steadily resisting all exhortations to 
 write a new book, he was this year induced to 
 publish parts of his old ones in a new form. His 
 selected and arranged " Contributions to the Edinburgh 
 Review " were published in November ; with an 
 amiable and candid preface, becoming his age and 
 position. Many articles of greater power are left 
 buried in the mass of the original work, but those 
 he has chosen to avow derive a charm from their 
 freedom from all factious feelings and interests, 
 and from their recording that enduring literature 
 and philosophy, to which he delighted to recur in 
 the calmness of advanced life, and which, in the 
 midst of all his contentions, had been the prevail- 
 ing enjoyments of his earlier years. 
 
 He sent me a copy of the book with the follow-
 
 392 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 ing letter : — " My dear C, Thougli I give scarcely any 
 of these books, I must send one to you, ex debito 
 justitice, since it was truly by your, not encourage- 
 ment or advice, but command and objurgation, that 
 I was induced to set about the republication. On 
 this account I once thought of dedicating it to 
 you ; but considering the nature of the work, I 
 ultimately thought it better to inscribe it to one 
 who had so much more connection with the Review. 
 But you must not imagine that I do not hold you 
 equally responsible for all the blame it may draw 
 on me, as if your name had figured on the front of 
 it ; as you know very well that he who hounds on 
 any one, under his authority, to the commission of 
 an improper act, is always regarded as the really 
 guilty party. I hope you will think the preface 
 long enough, and that as much is said in laud of 
 the Review, as it was fitting for one of its founders 
 to say. I trust, too, that you will not be scanda- 
 lised at the very moral tone of my own individual 
 professions. And so God bless you, my dear Cock- 
 burn. — Ever very affectionately yours. 
 
 25 Moray Place, 
 25th November 1843." 
 
 He was materially assisted in the preparation 
 of these volumes by his friend Mr. Thomas Main- 
 land, who helped him in many details with which 
 he would otherwise have been perplexed. In send- 
 ing him a eopy of the work, he says — " Yon at all 
 events are bound to judge of it with indulgence.
 
 LORD DUNDRENNAN. 393 
 
 since you cannot deny that you not only counselled 
 the undertaking, but tempted me to engage in it by 
 putting into my hands a sort of clue to the laby- 
 rinth, in which I do not know that I should other- 
 wise- have trusted myself. I must hope, too, that 
 some little regard for the author, personally, will 
 induce you to give him what countenance you 
 can on this occasion." — (25th November 1843). 
 Mr. Maitland had been Solicitor-General before 
 this, and was so again in 1846. In February 1850 
 he became Jeffrey's successor on the bench, with 
 the title of Lord Dundrennan. But after too short 
 a seat there, though long enough to enable him to 
 give the highest promises of judicial excellence, he 
 was unexpectedly, and to the deep sorrow of his 
 friends and of the public, withdrawn from us on the 
 10th of June 1851. 
 
 Though now above seventy, his intellect was as 
 vigorous, and his heart as sunny, as ever. But he 
 wisely began to think of himself as an old, or at 
 least as a feeble, man. Most of his letters about 
 this time, and afterwards, contain striking and 
 pleasing accounts of his declining state. "My 
 health," says he to Mrs. Fletcher, " after which 
 you enquire so kindly, is weak enough certainly ; 
 but chiefly from a feeble circulation, and not at- 
 tended with any worse suffering than a good deal 
 of langour and weakness, unaccompanied, I am 
 glad to say, either by any depression of spirits, 
 or abatemenl of mental alacrity. 1 have got 
 through our summer term without being a day <>ur
 
 394 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 of court, and as alert in it, I believe, as any of my 
 brethren. But I have been obliged to observe a 
 strict regimen, and to take a great deal more care 
 of myself every way than is at all suitable to my 
 genius or habits. However, I continue to hobble 
 along the broken arches with as good a grace as 
 most of my fellow travellers, and wait with tran- 
 quillity for the close, which cannot be very dis- 
 tant."— (Craigcrook, 24th July 1844). 
 
 This lady is the widow of his earliest patron, 
 Mr. Archibald Fletcher; a person towards whom 
 his regard, like that of all who have the happiness 
 of knowing her, rose into affectionate veneration. 
 
 The grace with which he submitted to the inevi- 
 table doom was indeed very remarkable. His good 
 affections were all retained and cherished ; while 
 the feelings connected with irritating passions and 
 disquieting pursuits were as entirely quenched as 
 they ever can be in this life. When not employed 
 judicially, which to him was always an agreeable 
 occupation, old friends, young friends, especially the 
 dear grandchildren, books, and external nature, were 
 what lie Lived in; and all his prospects of the gra- 
 dual, and now rapid, closing of life, were composed 
 and reasonable. He mellowed so sweetly, that there 
 was n<> period of his life when he attracted more re- 
 spect and affection than during its last five years. 
 
 Time also changed his outward appearance. 
 The bright manly eye remained, and the expressive 
 energy of the lips, and the clear sweet voice, and 
 the erect rapid gait. But the dark complexion had
 
 EVENING RECEPTIONS. 395 
 
 become pale, the black hair grey, the throat told too 
 often of its weakness, the small person had become 
 still smaller, and the whole figure evinced the; ne< 
 sity of great care. 
 
 Though preserving an undiminished relish of 
 society, he could not indulge it as formerly; and, 
 among other privations, was obliged to renounce 
 dinners, either given or received. To compensate 
 for this, he (Nov. 1844) made a sort of revival of 
 the social cheerfulness of the old Edinburgh supper, 
 without what would now be thought its convivial 
 coarseness. His house was open to his friends, gene- 
 rally without invitations, every Tuesday and Friday 
 evening, from about nine to twelve, during the four 
 winter months. The party usually consisted of from 
 about ten to about twenty, or even thirty ladies and 
 gentlemen ; who, instead of being left to freeze in 
 ceremony, or to evaporate in words, sat at round 
 tables, multiplied according to the demand, to a 
 moderate, but not entirely a nominal, refection. It 
 is needless to say that such an arrangement, at that 
 hour, produced excellent parties. He himself was 
 always in great talk; especially with the two or 
 three whom he detained after the rest were gone. 
 These most agreeable meetings were kept up till the 
 winter of 1848, when Mrs. Jeffrey's illness stopped 
 them. 
 
 He asks in one of his letters, — " Has anybody 
 thought of taking up my Tuesday and Friday even- 
 ings? Which, upon looking back to them, seem to 
 me like a faint, but not quite unsuccessful, revival
 
 39G LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 of a style of society which was thought to have 
 some attractions in the hands of Dugald Stewart 
 and some others ; though I fear we have now fallen 
 in an age too late for such a revival, and that 
 nothing but an amiable consideration for my infir- 
 mities could have given it the success it had." — (To 
 me, Haileybury, 26th March 1845). 
 
 His critical reputation made him be very fre- 
 quently applied to for advice by persons disposed, 
 but afraid, to publish ; and Sir Walter himself was 
 scarcely readier to assist them. I was asked, about 
 this period, to get his opinion of a MS. poem by 
 Mr. James Ballantine of Edinburgh. He gave it ; 
 with considerable praise, but with an advice, upon 
 the whole, against publication, and decidedly against 
 the adoption of verse as a profession. Referring to 
 this admonition, he says, in another part of the pre- 
 ceding letter, " I hope you got (naming the poem) 
 back in safety, and have softened my dehortative to 
 the ingenious, and, I am persuaded, amiable author." 
 Nobody could stand so kindly administered an ad- 
 monition better than Mr. Ballantine, because his 
 other publications, both in verse and in prose, parti- 
 cularly his " Gaberlunzie 's Wallet" a work which 
 Burns would not have been anxious to have dis- 
 owned, have given him a very high place among 
 the writers of native Scotch. He is one of the sen- 
 sible men who can combine business with litera- 
 ture; making the muses grace the business, and the 
 business teed the muses. 
 
 lie read a good deal; ami present amusement
 
 HIS READING. 397 
 
 being the only object, nothing rational came amiss. 
 u In the meantime, yon will be glad to hear that J 
 am very tranquil, and, for the most part, very happy 
 and comfortable. I sleep rather better than usual, 
 have no actual pain, and very little oppression or 
 discomfort, so urgent as to prevent me from interest- 
 ing myself, quite as much as formerly, in reading 
 and conversation. I read all the Pilgrim's Progress 
 (for the first time for fifty years, I believe,) yester- 
 day and the day before ; and I am now busy with 
 the Life of Wycliffe, and the Memoirs of Selina, 
 Countess of Huntingdon. So you see I am in a 
 very godly course of study.'' — (To me, 4th Septem- 
 ber 1844). 
 
 " And I have been reading Eldon's Life and 
 Correspondence, in which there is much that is 
 curious and instructive ; and also Burke's, which is 
 of a higher pitch to be sure, and to me full of the 
 deepest interest and delight. The greatest and most 
 accomplished intellect which England has produced 
 for centuries, and of a noble and loveable nature." 
 — (Haileybury, 4th September 1844). 
 
 " I am generally able, however, to take several 
 short walks every day, and read and converse, for 
 the most part, as pleasantly as ever. I have read a 
 good deal, and, if with little improvement, at least 
 with much satisfaction, almost all Arnold's writings, 
 and especially his Introductory Letter on History, 
 which, though a hasty and rash production, and 
 with great gaps, is full of good thoughts, and mas- 
 terly views; many French historical and philo-
 
 398 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 sophical works of Thiers, Mignet, Barante, and 
 others ; niost of Spenser's Fairy Queen, Vaughan's 
 Life of Wycliffe, and many biographies of mission- 
 aries, chancellors, and other worthies, together with 
 some novels, English and French, and (translated) 
 German, besides the saintly publications of which I 
 made mention in my last. We have still summer 
 here," — (Haileybury, 18th September 1844). 
 
 The Reverend Sidney Smith died on the 22d of 
 February 1845. Jeffrey's feelings on this calamity 
 are expressed in the following letter to Mr. Smith's 
 daughter, Mrs. Holland, on his first seeing her 
 father's " Fragment on the Irish Roman Catholic 
 Church :" — " E. I. College, Hertford, 2d April 1845. 
 My very Dear Saba — I have felt several times, in 
 the last six weeks, that I ought to have written to 
 some of you. But, in truth, my dear child, I had 
 not the courage ; and to-day I do it, not so much 
 because I have the courage, as because I cannot 
 help it. That startling and matchless fragment was 
 laid on my table this morning, and, before I had 
 read out the first sentence, the real presence of my 
 beloved and incomparable friend was so brought 
 before me, in all his brilliancy, benevolence, and 
 flashing decision, that I seemed again to hear his 
 voice, and read in his eye, — and burst into an agony 
 of crying. I went through the whole in the same 
 state of feeling. My fancy kindled, and my intel- 
 lect illumined, but my heart struck through with 
 the sense of our loss, so suddenly and deeply im- 
 pressed by this seeming restoration. 1 do not think
 
 HIS OLD AM.. 399 
 
 he ever wrote anything so good, and I feel, mourn- 
 fully, that there is no one now alive who could have 
 
 so written. The effect I am persuaded will be 
 greater than from any of his other publications. It 
 is a voice from the grave. It relieves me to say 
 all this, and you must forgive it — God bless you 
 all ! I have been here ten days with my daughter 
 and grandchildren, as well as I have been through 
 the winter, and living an innocent, quiet, patriarchal, 
 life, in love, peace, and sobriety. I merely passed 
 through London, and do not feel tempted to encoun- 
 ter its perils or seduction-. Vet I must run up for 
 a day or two to have one more look of the friends 
 I love there." 
 
 He was in the south of England as usual in 1846, 
 and says of himself, while at Salterton, — " Empson 
 is back at his work. The rest wait for me; all 
 very well and very patient. Beautiful weather on 
 the whole, though not warm ; thermometer very 
 steady, between fifty-two and fifty-eight, and much 
 sunshine and calm, with a fine deep murmuring 
 sea. I creep out twice a-day, and lead a dreamy, 
 pensive, patient, poetical, sort of existence, without 
 energy and without ennui, fallentis semita vitce. I 
 think I could muse on here contentedly enough till 
 the end. It would save trouble." — (Salterton, 30th 
 April 1846). 
 
 And to Mrs. Smith, he says, from Derby, where 
 he had been taken ill, on his way home, — " I have 
 indeed been very ill, and recover but very slowly, 
 but I have little actual suffering, and hope to be a
 
 400 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 little less feeble and shaky yet before I die. Fortu- 
 nately I have no anxiety, no low spirits, though the 
 animal vitality is at times low enough, God knows ! 
 My affections and my enjoyment of beautiful nature, 
 I thank heaven, are as fresh and lively, as in the first 
 poetical days of my youth ; and with these, there 
 is nothing very miserable in the infirmities of age. 
 We are taking two of our grandchildren down with 
 us, and hope to have the whole household reunited 
 at Cr&igcrookey in the first days of July. They are 
 all (except the poor patriarch who tells you so) in 
 the full flush of hope and gaiety, and would make 
 a brightness in a darker home than mine." 
 
 o 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, he arrived here in a 
 very tolerable condition, and did his public duty 
 effectually, and enjoyed his friends as much as ever, 
 though in a quieter way. 
 
 His surviving sister, Mrs. Brown, died this 
 autumn. No brother and sister could love each 
 other more tenderly. 
 
 He went to the Isle of Wight in spring 1847, 
 from which he writes Mrs. Craig, — " It is a great de- 
 light to me to have still, at my age, so many whom 
 I can call old friends, and I have every day more- 
 reason to applaud myself for having, through life, 
 been able to attach myself to young persons ; since, 
 if it were not so, I should now be without any 
 cordial or secure affections, and fit only to enact 
 the Methuselah of the family to my poor grand- 
 children."— (16th April 1817). After leaving that 
 place, and getting to London, lie gives this account
 
 RAGGED scllooi.. |0] 
 
 of his recent life: — "We are just back from three 
 weeks' very sweet, tranquil, and innocent, seclusion 
 in the Isle of Wight, which we have left with much 
 affection, and some regret; having sauntered ami 
 mused away our hours in full sympathy with tin 
 beautiful nature around us, and in cordial affection, 
 and entire independence of each other." " We took 
 a tender farewell of our Shanklin Oreads and Nereids 
 yesterday, and after a rumbling drive across the 
 island, and a tumbling voyage across the high 
 swelling green waters, stopped with our whole 
 patriarchal household of four children and four 
 nurses at the very best hotel in England (the 
 railway hotel at Gosport) ; from which we came 
 whizzing up about two hours ago by an express 
 train, ninety miles in two hours and a quarter." — 
 (To me, London, 4th May 1847). 
 
 Before leaving Edinburgh, he had sent £50 in 
 aid of the Edinburgh Ragged School, in the esta- 
 blishment of which the Reverend Dr. Guthrie, a 
 man of unwearying benevolence, chiefly in the 
 haunts of neglected destitution, and one of the most 
 eloquent of living preachers, took so able and effec- 
 tive a lead. His hope was that the school was to 
 be open, honestly and liberally, to children of all 
 denominations ; but being told, whether accurately 
 or not, that there was some doubt about this, and 
 being asked to interfere, he refused, saying, " I have 
 resolved not to make my little donation to Guthrie's 
 schools a title to interfere and lecture about their 
 management." " The spirit you refer to is lament- 
 
 vol. i. 2 n
 
 402 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 able and unaccountable enough, but good will be 
 done in spite of it ; and we really must not lose 
 heart, or hope, or even temper, because crotchets 
 with which we have no sympathy, make other good 
 men not quite comfortable coadjutors in our notions 
 of benevolence."— (To me, 4th May 1847). 
 
 There was no one of the friends of his later ac- 
 quisition for whom he had greater admiration or 
 regard than Mr. Macaulay ; and he testified the in- 
 terest which he took in this great writer's fame by a 
 proceeding, which, considering his age and position, 
 is not unworthy of being told. This judge, of 
 seventy -four, revised the proof sheets of the two first 
 volumes of the History of England, with the dili- 
 gence and minute care of a corrector of the press 
 toiling for bread ; — not merely suggesting changes in 
 the matter and the expression, but attending to the 
 very commas and colons — a task which, though 
 humble, could not be useless, because it was one at 
 which long practice had made him very skilful. 
 Indeed he used to boast that it was one of his pecu- 
 liar excellences. On returning a proof to an editor 
 of the Review, he says, " I have myself rectified 
 most of the errors, and made many valuable verbal 
 improvements in a small way. But my great task 
 has been with the punctuation — on which I have, as 
 usual, acquitted myself to admiration. And indeed 
 this is the department of literature on which I feel 
 that I most excel, and on which I am therefore most 
 willing now to stake my reputation ! !" 
 
 During the autumn of this year he contributed
 
 Ills LAST ARTICLE IN THE REVIEW. L03 
 
 his last article to the Review. It was the able and 
 elaborate paper on the claims of Watt and Caven- 
 dish as the discoverers of the composition of water, 
 which was published in January 1848. It would 
 have been better perhaps if his final effort had been 
 on a subject more congenial to his favourite tastes. 
 But whether he shall turn out to be right, or to be 
 wrong, in assigning the palm to his friend Watt, 
 there can be no question as to the ability with which 
 the evidence is discussed. He was always skilful in 
 the art of arraying scientific proof. It is scarcely 
 possible to resist the reasoning of his article in favour 
 of Mr. Clerk being the inventor of the manoeuvre of 
 breaking the enemy's line in naval war (No. 101, 
 art. 1) ; and yet there is an opposite and very rea- 
 sonable view of this matter among good judges. 
 
 This year (1848) was clouded by several afflic- 
 tions. Mrs. Jeffrey was taken dangerously ill at 
 Haileybury in spring ; and though she got better in 
 the course of the year, she never made an entire 
 recovery. His sufferings on this account were very 
 severe. His brother John died on the 2d of July. 
 And in a few weeks after this he had to submit to 
 an operation for the extraction of a small wen in 
 his leg. It was performed, with his usual skill, by 
 Mr. Syme. Though slight in its own nature, it was 
 severe on Jais nervous temperament, and compelled 
 him to be cautious for a considerable time. 
 
 The year 1849, the last of his life, was passed 
 wholly in Scotland.
 
 404 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 His sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert Moreliead, being 
 very ill, he wrote a letter to her beginning thus : — 
 " Edinburgh, 9th February 1849. — My ever dear 
 Margaret, I cannot tell you how much I have been 
 grieved by the account of your cruel illness. You 
 are almost the only friend of my early life left 
 to me in the world, and it is sad, indeed, to think 
 of suffering and dangers gathering round you in 
 the evening of our day. Both Charlotte and I feel 
 very deeply for your condition. But / have feel- 
 ings and recollections in which she can have no 
 share, and often find myself dwelling, in my sleep- 
 less nights, on the scenes of our youthful intimacy, 
 and the dawnings of that cordial affection which 
 it is a great consolation to think has ever sub- 
 sisted unbroken between us." " And so heaven 
 bless and keep you ever, my very dear Margaret. 
 I wish I could write to you with a lighter heart ; 
 but it is a true and a loving one, at any rate, and 
 that is a soothing in all sorrows ; and I trust that 
 the assurance of it may bring some lightening of 
 affliction to you. With kindest remembrances to 
 all your family." 
 
 She died on the 18th of that month. 
 
 The prize which he had founded when Rector of 
 Glasgow, though regularly awarded, had never been 
 finally arranged. On the 6th of November 1849, 
 lii' wrote a full business letter to Principal Macfar- 
 lane, putting it on a permanent tooting. lie directs 
 the interest of the money to he laid out annually
 
 GLASGOW PRIZE. t05 
 
 on a gold medal, on one side of which the name of 
 the gainer shall be engraved, and on the other the 
 words " Praemium Solenne in Academia Glasguensi, 
 Francisci Jeffrey Alumni olim, non immemoris, 
 Anno 1820 Reetoris, Domun." This medal is to be 
 given, by the votes of his class fellows, to the most 
 distinguished student in the Greek class. The letter 
 ends thus, — " You, Sir, have long been the only 
 member of your society who can remember me as 
 a student within its walls, and it is with a mournful 
 pleasure that I take this opportunity of bringing 
 myself individually to your recollection, and solicit- 
 ing for old acquaintance sake, some share of your 
 indulgent regard. Since those days of our early 
 youth, our ways of life have been widely apart; 
 but I can say with truth, that I have always 
 cherished a tender and grateful recollection of the 
 scenes in which we first met, and never ceased to 
 take an interest in the pleasing accounts that have 
 reached me of the prosperity and distinction to 
 Avhich you have attained. With my best wishes 
 for their long continuance and increase, and with 
 every sentiment of respect and esteem, believe me 
 always." 
 
 Three days after this he left Craigcrook and 
 came to Edinburgh for the winter. Before coming 
 away he wrote to the Empsons. " Craigcrook, 
 Friday, 9th November 1849, two o'clock. — Bless 
 you, my dears. Novissima hoc in agro conscribenda ! I 
 have made n last lustration of all my walks and
 
 406 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 haunts, and taken a long farewell of garden, and 
 terrace, and flowers, seas and shores, spiry towers, 
 and autumnal fields. I always bethink me that I 
 may never see them again. And one day that 
 thought will be a fact ; and every year the odds run 
 up terribly for such a consummation. But it will 
 not be the sooner for being anticipated, and the 
 anticipation brings no real sorrow with it." 
 
 As Mrs. Jeffrey continued to improve, he lived 
 happily and quietly, and did his official work with 
 alacrity and success. Even when the scene was 
 just about to close, there were some gratifying exhi- 
 bitions of his inextinguishable kindness and spirit. 
 On the 4th and on the 6th of January 1850, he 
 sent two letters of advice and encouragement, one 
 to Mr. Alexander Maclagan of Edinburgh, and one 
 to Mr. John Crawford of Alloa, each of whom had 
 presented him with a volume of his poems. In- 
 stead of turning from them in silence, he made 
 each an answer so warm with friendly sympathy, 
 that they will cherish these letters to their latest 
 hours. And on the 18th of January he wrote that 
 delightful letter to Mrs. Smith, now in her hus- 
 band's works, in which he retracts a previous 
 dissuasive against the publication of his friend's 
 lectures, and urges her, with great cordiality, not 
 to be misled by his first error, but to give them to 
 the world.* 
 
 * Al the period of Ins discouraging opinion, he had read but 
 :i few of the lectures, and these only in manuscript. 

 
 LAST [LLNESS. !<»7 
 
 On Tuesday the 22d he was in court for the Last 
 time. He was then under no apparent illness; in- 
 somuch that, before going home, he walked round 
 the Calton Hill, with his usual quickness of step, 
 and alertness of gait. But In- was taken ill that 
 night of bronchitis and feverish cold ; though seem- 
 ingly not worse than he had often been. On the 
 evening of Friday the 25th, he dictated a letter to 
 the Lord President, saying that there w^as no chance 
 of his being in court that week, " nor, I fear, very 
 much even for the next. I shall not write again 
 to you, therefore, till I can point out some prospect 
 of again appearing in my place. But I do not think 
 it improbable that my next communication to you 
 wall be to announce that I have resolved to resign 
 my place on the bench." On the same evening he 
 dictated the last letter he ever wrote to the Emp- 
 sons. In reference to his old critical habits, parts 
 of it are very curious. It w^as long, and gave a 
 full and clear description of the whole course of 
 his illness, from which he expected to recover, 
 but had made up his mind not to continue longer 
 on the bench. " I don't think I have had any 
 proper sleep for the last three nights, and I em- 
 ploy portions of them in a way that seems to as- 
 sume the existence of a sort of dreamy state, lying 
 quite consciously in my bed with my eyes alter- 
 nately shut and open," enjoying curious visions. 
 He saw " part of a proof sheet of a new r edition 
 of the Apocrypha, and all about Barach and th<
 
 408 LIKE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 Maccabees. I read a good deal in this with much 
 interest," &c, and " a huge Califomian news- 
 paper, full of all manner of odd advertisements, 
 some of which amused me much by their novelty. 
 I had then prints of the vulgar old comedies before 
 Shakspere's time, which were very disgusting." 
 " I could conjure up the spectrum of a close printed 
 political paper filled with discussions on free trade, 
 protection, and colonies, such as one sees in the 
 Times, the Economist, and the Daily News. I read 
 the ideal copies with a good deal of pain and diffi- 
 culty, owing to the smallness of the type, but with 
 great interest, and, I believe, often for more than 
 an hour at a time ; forming a judgment of their 
 merits with great freedom and acuteness, and often 
 saying to myself ' this is very cleverly put, but 
 there is a fallacy in it, for so and so." 
 
 He died on the evening of the next day, Satur- 
 day the 26th of January 1850, in his seventy-seventh 
 year. 
 
 This event struck the community with peculiar 
 sadness. On the occasion of no death of any illus- 
 trious Edinburgh man in our day, was the public 
 sorrow deeper or more general. As soon as it was 
 known that Jeffrey was gone, the eminence of his 
 talents — the great objects to which they had ever 
 been devoted — his elevation, by gradual triumphs, 
 over many prejudices, to the highest stations — even 
 the abundance of his virtues were nil forgotten, in 
 the personal l<>vc of the man.
 
 DEATH. K)9 
 
 Some time, apparently in 1849, but the exact 
 date cannot now be ascertained, he wrote a letter to 
 the Empsons, with this passage, — "Edinburgh, 
 Sunday, 7th — I had a long walk with granny (Mrs. 
 Jeffrey) after evening church, a beautiful setting 
 sun, and long rays of levelled light blazing upon 
 tower and tree, and from the high field windows, 
 and the sky so crimson and yellow, between soft 
 umbered clouds. We went into the Dean Ceme- 
 tery, which was resonant with blackbirds, and 
 looked invitingly peaceful and cheerful. I rather 
 think I must have a freehold there, though I have 
 sometimes had a hankering after a cubiculum under 
 those sweet weeping willows at Amwell, if one 
 should be called away from the vicinage." 
 
 He expressed the same feeling about the ceme- 
 tery of the Dean being his resting place, to his 
 niece Miss Brown within about two months of his 
 death 5 and even pointed out to her the very spot 
 where he said it gave him pleasure to believe that he 
 would be laid. 
 
 He was laid there on the 31st. Several pro- 
 posals were made for a public funeral ; but it was 
 thought better, and certainly more conformable to 
 his character, that it should be quite private. 
 
 A meeting of his friends was held on the 7th of 
 
 February 1850, to consider the propriety of taking 
 
 measures for the erection of a public monument to 
 
 his memory. Lord Dunfermline was called to the 
 
 * Near Edinburgh, on the road to Craigcrook.
 
 410 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 cliair, and opened the business by a short, feeling, 
 and sensible address. I had the honour of moving 
 certain formal resolutions for putting matters into 
 shape. These were seconded, in a few observations, 
 by Professor Wilson, who said, " that a monument 
 should be erected to such a man, was a demand 
 from the heart of the nation, and would be gratify- 
 ing in after ages to every lover of genius and 
 virtue." A committee was appointed to carry the 
 resolutions into effect. William Murray, Esquire 
 of Henderland, was chosen convener of this com- 
 mittee ; a position to which his judgment and his 
 long friendship with the deceased well entitled him, 
 and which secured the object being attained quietly 
 and effectually. 
 
 Mrs. Jeffrey never recovered the shock of her 
 husband's death. She died at Haileybury on the 
 18th of May, and on the 29 th her remains were laid 
 beside his. 
 
 A majority of those present at a meeting of the 
 committee on the 29th of November 1850, decided 
 that the monument should be a marble statue, to 
 be placed in the Outer House. The minority (of 
 whom I was one) thought, that as the peculiar merits 
 and services of Francis Jeffrey were of a popular 
 nature, and not connected with the law, and that, 
 as the Outer House, though open to the people, is 
 not habitually frequented by them, an architectural 
 edifice would be more appropriate and useful. Mr. 
 Steel] lias undertaken the execution of the statue,
 
 CHARACTER AND USEFULNESS. 411 
 
 and everything may be confidently expected from 
 an artist who, besides having seen the original, has 
 given so many admirable proofs of his skill and 
 taste. 
 
 The best likeness of Jeffrey that exists is in the 
 excellent portrait by Mr. Colvin Smith of Edin- 
 burgh, from which there has been a good engraving. 
 
 And so he passed away. 
 
 The preceding pages may enable those who did 
 not know him to imagine what he was and what he 
 did. 
 
 He was not so much distinguished by the pre- 
 dominance 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 delight- 
 ful 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
 
 H2 LIFE OF LORD JEFFREY. 
 
 his existence, and were preferred by him to every 
 other gratification, except the pleasures of con- 
 science. 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 cau- 
 tion, 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. 
 
 He prepared himself for what he did by judi- 
 cious early industry. He then chose the most diffi- 
 cult spheres in which talent can be exerted, and 
 excelled in them all ; rising from obscurity and de- 
 pendence to affluence and renown. His splendour 
 as an advocate was exceeded by his eminence as a 
 judge. He was the founder of a new system of 
 criticism, and this a higher one than had ever ex- 
 isted. As an editor, and as a writer, he did as much 
 to improve his country and the world, as can almost 
 ever be done, by discussion, by a single man. He 
 was the last of four pre-eminent Scotchmen, who, 
 living in their own country, raised its character 
 and extended its reputation, during the period of 
 his career. The other three were Dugald Stewart, 
 Walter Scott, and Thomas Chalmers*, each of whom, 
 in literature, philosophy, or policy, caused great 
 changes; and c-ich left upon his age the impression
 
 CHARACTER AND USEFULNESS. I 1 •". 
 
 of the mind that produced them. Jeffrey, though 
 
 surpassed in genius certainly by IScott, and perhaps 
 by Chalmers, was inferior to none of them in public 
 usefulness, or in the beauty of the means by which 
 he achieved it, or in its probable duration. The 
 elevation of the public mind was his peculiar glory. 
 In one respect alone he was unfortunate. The as- 
 saults which he led against error, were efforts in 
 which the value of his personal services can never 
 be duly seen. His position required him to dissi- 
 pate, in detached and nameless exertions, as much 
 philosophy and beautiful composition as would have 
 sustained avowed and important original works. 
 He has raised a great monument, but it is one on 
 which his own name is too faintly engraved.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 After the preceding pages had been printed, I received the 
 three following letters, which I think too interesting to be 
 omitted. 
 
 The first, from Lord Jeffrey, shows that Lord Glenlee's 
 reconciliation to him took place a few years sooner than (page 
 121) I had supposed. 
 
 The second, from Lord Byron, proves how entirely his 
 Lordship had survived his hatred of the Review and its 
 editor. 
 
 The third, from Scott to Jeffrey, attests the familiar affec- 
 tion which, in spite of some sharp criticism on the poetry of 
 the writer, ever subsisted between them. 
 
 Lord Jeffrey to Mrs. Jeffrey. 
 
 Ayr, 8th April 1826. 
 
 I have a pressing invitation from Lord Glenlee this morn- 
 ing to pass a few days with him at Barskimming — the first 
 invitation, or act of common civility, that I have received from 
 him since he chose to quarrel with me about politics, the year 
 I came to the bar. If I can contrive it, I should like to go, 
 both because it is infinitely delightful to me to see old friend- 
 ships restored, and because I have a curiosity to learn what 
 this new turn portends.
 
 -416 APPENDIX. 
 
 Lord Byron to Jeffrey. 
 
 February 28, 1815. 
 
 My dear Sir — Mr. Hobhouse will not feel less gratified 
 than I have felt, in your approbation and acceptance of his 
 article, which will be faithfully conveyed to him. 
 
 Whatever pride I may have felt in your praise of works 
 which I will not affect to undervalue, since they have been 
 sanctioned by your judgment, is nevertheless far inferior to 
 the pleasure I should derive from the power of exciting, and 
 the opportunity of cultivating, your personal friendship. My 
 former letter in 1812 was written under circumstances of em- 
 barrassment ; for, although you had not allowed my rashness 
 to operate upon your public sentence, I was by no means sure 
 that your private feelings were equally unbiassed. Indeed, 1 
 felt that I did not deserve that they should be so, and was, 
 besides, not a little apprehensive of the misconstruction which 
 might be put upon my motives by others, though your own 
 spirit and generosity would acquit me of such to yourself. I 
 shall be now most happy to obtain and preserve whatever 
 portion of your regard you may allot to me. The whole of your 
 conduct to me has already secured mine, with many obligations 
 which would be oppressive, were it not for my esteem of him 
 who has conferred them. I hope we shall meet before a very 
 long time has elapsed, and then, and now, I would willingly 
 endeavour to sustain your good opinion. 
 
 I think Waverley can be none but Scott's. There are so 
 many of his familiar phrases — " Balmawhapple was with 
 diiliculty got to horse;" " any gentleman curious in Christian 
 burial j" " poor Rose here lost heart ;" and a hundred other 
 expressions are so like some of his in letters, that, though 
 slight, i think them sure indications of his touches. Be it 
 whose it may, it is the best novel, to my mind, of many years, 
 and I cannot help thinking, will outlive Mrs. RadclifFe and all 
 her ghostly graduates. We have not got "Guy" yet. I
 
 FROM SIR WALTER SCOTT. I 1 < 
 
 should be very happy to try my hand upon some of your 
 humbler patients ; but I must take some time and pains, and 
 cannot hope, like Gil Bias, to acquire the whole art at once. 
 Nothing has ever surprised me more than the uniform tone of 
 good writing and original thinking which has been kept up 
 amidst such variety, and even in the drier articles, of the E. R., 
 and I would not adventure myself hastily into so much good 
 company. Our friend Moore does as well as if he had done 
 nothing else all his life ; but the fact is, he has powers and 
 versatility of talent for what he will. I have brought myself 
 to the end of my sheet. I know you are very busy, profession- 
 ally and literanfly (if there be such a word), and will only 
 beg you not to throw away your time in answering me, till 
 fully and leisurely disposed so far to oblige. —Ever yours most 
 truly. Byron. 
 
 P.S. — "Poetry"! — Oh Lord! — I have been married these 
 two months. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott to Jeffrey. 
 
 Abbotsford, 5th August 1817. 
 My dear Jeffrey — I flatter myself it will not require many 
 protestations to assure you with what pleasure 1 would under- 
 take any book that can give you pleasure. But, in the present 
 case, I am hampered by two circumstances ; one, that I pro- 
 mised Gifford a review of this very Kirkton for the Quarterly ; 
 the other, that I shall certainly be unable to keep my word 
 with him. I am obliged to take exercise three or four hours 
 in the forenoon, and two after dinner, to keep off the infernal 
 spasms which, since last winter, have attacked me with such 
 violence, as if all the imps that used to plague poor Caliban 
 were washing, wringing, and ironing, the unshapely but useful 
 bag wdiich Sir John Sinclair treats with such distinction — my 
 stomach, in short. Now, as I have much to do of my own, I 
 vol.. i. 2 E
 
 418 APPENDIX. 
 
 fear I can hardly be of use to you in the present case, which I 
 am very sorry for, as I like the subject, and would be pleased 
 to give my own opinion respecting the Jacobitism of the Editor, 
 which, like my own, has a good spice of affectation in it, 
 mingled with some not unnatural feelings of respect for a cause 
 which, though indefensible in common sense and ordinary 
 policy, had a great deal of high-spirited Quixotry about it. 
 Can you not borrow from your briefs and criticism a couple of 
 days to look about you here. I dare not ask Mrs. Jeffrey till 
 next year, when my hand will be out of the mortar-tub ; and 
 at present my only spare bed was, till of late, but accessible 
 by the feudal accommodation of a drawbridge made of two 
 deals ; and still requires the clue of Ariadne. Still, however, 
 there it is, and there is an obliging stage-coach called the 
 Blucher, which sets down my guests within a mile of my 
 mansion (at Melrose bridge-end), three times a-week, and 
 restores them to their families in like manner after five hours' 
 travelling. I am like one of Miss Edgeworth's heroines, 
 master of all things in miniature — a little hill and a little glen, 
 and a little horse-pond of a loch, and a little river, I was going 
 to call it — the Tweed, but I remember the minister was mob- 
 bed by his parishioners for terming it, in his statistical report, 
 an inconsiderable stream. So pray do come and see me, and 
 if I can stead you, or pleasure you, in the course of the winter, 
 you shall command me. As I bethink me, I can contrive a 
 bachelor bed for Thomson or Jo. Murray, if either of them will 
 come with you ; and if you ride, I have plenty of hay and corn, 
 and a bed for your servant. — Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 Our posts are not very regular, so I was late in receiving 
 yours.
 
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTIONS. 1 L9 
 
 No II. 
 
 LIST OF LORD JEFFREY'S ARTICLES IN THE EDINBURGB 
 
 REVIEW. 
 
 1. Mournier sur la Revolution de France. — No. 1, art. 1. 
 
 2. Southey's Thalaba. — No. 1, art. 8. 
 
 3. Herrenschwand, Adresse aux vraishommes de bien, &c. 
 
 &c.— No. 1, art. 13. 
 
 4. Bonnet sur l'Art de rendre Revolutions Utiles. — No. 1, 
 
 art. 19. 
 
 5. Mackenzie's Voyages in North America. — No. 1, art. 22. 
 
 6. Playfair's Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory. — No. 1, 
 
 art. 26. 
 
 7. Paley's Natural Theology. — No. 2, art. 3. 
 
 8. Denon's Travels in Egypt. — No. 2, art. 8. 
 
 9. Mrs. Hunter's Poems. — No. 2, art. 14. 
 
 10. Gentz, Etat de l'Europe. — No. 3, art. 1. 
 
 11. Hayley's Life of Cowper, vols. I. and II. — No. 3, art. 5. 
 
 12. Thelwall's Poems.— No. 3, art. 21. 
 
 13. Miss Baillie's Plays on the Passions. — No. 4, art. 1. 
 
 14. Huttonian and Neptunian Geology. — No. 4, art. h. 
 
 15. Lady Maiy Wortley Montague's Works. — No. 4, art. 21. 
 
 16. De Lille, Malheur et Pitie" Poeme.— No. 5, art. 2. 
 
 17. Cambridge's Works. — No. 5, art. 4. 
 
 18. Millar's View of the English Government. — No. 5, art. 13. 
 
 19. Stewart's Life of Dr. Reid.— No. 6, art. 1. 
 
 20. Pictet, Voyage en Angleterre. — No. 6, art. 2. 
 
 21. Dr. Cririe's Scottish Scenery; a Poem. — No. 6, art. 6. 
 
 22. Bentham, Principes de Legislation par Dumont. — Xo. 7, 
 
 art. 1. 
 
 23. Holcroft's Travels from Hamburgh to Paris. — Xo. 7, 
 
 art. 6. 
 
 24. Hayley's Life of Cowper, vol. III.— No. 8, art. 2. 
 
 25. Sotheby's Translation of the Georgics. — No. 8. ai
 
 420 APPENDIX. 
 
 26. Considerations on the Abolition of the Slave Trade. — No. 
 
 8, art. 17. 
 
 27. Richardson's Life and Correspondence. — No. 9, art. 2. 
 
 28. Barrow's Travels in China. — No. 10, art. 1. 
 
 29. Lord Teignmouth's Life of Sir W. Jones. — No. 10, art. 6. 
 
 30. Miss Baillie's Miscellaneous Plays.— No. 10, art. 12. 
 
 31. The Sabbath ; a Poem.— No. 10, art. 14. 
 
 32. Correspondence and Life of John Wilkes. — No. 10, art. 18. 
 
 33. Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel.— No. 11, art. 1. 
 
 34. Memoires de Bailly.— No. 11, art. 12. 
 
 35. Southey's Madoc; a Poem. — No. 13, art. 1. 
 
 36. De Lille, Traduction de l'Eneide.— No. 13, art. 8. 
 
 37. Drammond's Academical Questions. — No. 13, art. 12. 
 
 38. Memoires de Marmontel. — No. 14, art. 5. 
 
 39. Forsyth's Principles of Moral Science.— No. 14, art. 7. 
 
 40. The Frauds of the Neutral Flags.— No. 15, art. 1. 
 
 41. Cumberland's Memoirs. — No. 15, art. 8. 
 
 42. Lessing's Nathan the Wise. — No. 15, art. 11. 
 
 43. Smyth's English Lyrics.— No. 15, art. 12. 
 
 44. Raymond's Life of Dermody. — No. 15, art. 13. 
 
 45. Miss Edgeworth's Leonora. — No. 15, art. 16. 
 
 46. Mawman's Tour through Scotland. — No. 16, art. 4. 
 
 47. Franklin's Works.— No. 16, art. 7. 
 
 48. Bell on the Anatomy of Painting. — No. 16, art. 10. 
 
 49. Pinkerton's Recollections of Paris. — No. 16, art. 13. 
 
 50. Moore's Poems.— No. 16, art. 18. 
 
 51. Barrow's Voyage to Cochin, China. — No. 17, art. 1. 
 
 52. Willan and Others on Vaccination. — No. 17, art. 3. 
 
 53. Craig's Life of Millar.— No. 17, art. 5. 
 
 54. Memoirs of Dr. Priestley.— No. 17, art. 9. 
 
 55. Lord Holland's Account of Lope de Vega. — No. 17, art. 16. 
 
 56. Montgomery's Poems. — No. 18, art. 6. 
 
 57. Proposed Reform of the Court of Session. — No. 18, art. 14. 
 
 58. The Dangers of the Country.— No. 19, art. 1.
 
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTIONS. llM 
 
 59. Clarkson on Quakerism. — No. 19, art. (!. 
 
 60. Sir William Forbes' Life of Dr. Beattie.— No. 19, 
 
 art. 12. 
 
 61. Sotheby's Saul ; a Poem.— No. 19, art. 14. 
 
 62. Good's Translation of Lucretius. — No. 19, art. 15. 
 
 63. Cobbet's Political Register.— No. 20, art. 9. 
 
 64. Hope on Household Furniture. — No. 20, art. 14. 
 
 65. Catholic Question. — No. 21, art. 8. 
 
 66. Sir John Sinclair, on Health and Longevity.' — No. 21, 
 
 art. 13. 
 
 67. Wordsworth's Poems.— No. 21, art. 14. 
 
 68. Espriella's Letters from England. — No. 22, art. 7. 
 
 69. Scott's Marmion. — No. 23, art. 1. 
 
 70. Crabbe's Poems.— No. 23, art. 8. 
 
 71. Fox's History of James II. — No. 24, art. 1. 
 
 72. Mrs. Hamilton's Cottagers of Glenburnie. — No. 24, art. 8. 
 
 73. Douce's Illustrations of Shakspere. — No. 24, art. 12. 
 
 74. The Life of Colonel Hutchinson.— No. 25, art. 1. 
 
 75. Fowling ; a Poem. — No. 25, art. 4. 
 
 76. Curran's Speeches. — No. 25, art. 9. 
 
 77. Cevallos on the French Usurpation in Spain. — No. 25. 
 
 art. 14. 
 
 78. Cromek's Reliques of Burns. — No. 26, art. 1. 
 
 79. Warburton's Letters. — No. 26, art. 5. 
 
 80. Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming. — No. 27, art. 1. 
 
 81. Morehead's Discourses. — No. 27, art. 7. 
 
 82. Lettres du Prince de Ligne. — No. 27, art. 9. 
 
 83. Parliamentary Reform. — No. 28, art. 1 . 
 
 84. Miss Edge worth's Fashionable Tales.— No. 28, art. 7. 
 
 85. Barlow's Columbiad ; a Poem. — No. 29, art. 2. 
 
 86. Mrs. Montague's Letters.— No. 29, art. 5. 
 
 87. Hamilton's Parliamentary Logic. — No. 29, art. 1 1 . 
 
 88. Memoirs of Arfieri. — No. 30, art. 2. 
 
 89. Pamphlets on Vaccination. — No. 30, art. 5.
 
 \2'1 APPENDIX. 
 
 90. Correspondence de Madame Deffand et de Mademoiselle 
 
 de Lespinass. — No. 30, art. 13. 
 
 91. The State of Parties.— No. 30, art. 15. 
 
 92. Letter on French Government. — No. 31, art. 1. 
 
 93. Crabbe's Borough. — No. 31, art. 2. 
 
 94. Grahame's British Georgics. — No. 31, art. 9. 
 
 95. Scott's Lady of the Lake. — No. 32, art. 1. 
 
 96. Staunton's Penal Code of China. — No. 32, art. 12. 
 
 97. Catholic Question. — No. 33, art. 1. 
 
 98. Stewart's Philosophical Essays. — No. 33, art. 9. 
 
 99. Parliamentary Reform. — No. 34, art. 1. 
 
 100. Letters of Madame De Deffand.— No. 34, art. 2. 
 
 101. Southey's Curse of Kehama. — No. 34, art. 11. 
 
 102. Alison on Taste. — No. 35, art. 1. 
 
 103. Ford's Dramatic Works.— No. 36, art, J . 
 
 104. Scott's Vision of Don Roderick. — No. 36, art. 6. 
 
 105. Mrs. Grant on Highlanders.— No. 36, art. 12. 
 
 106. Hardy's Life of Lord Charlemont.— No. 37, art. 4. 
 
 107. Miss Baillie's Plays on the Passions, vol. III. — No. 
 
 38, art. 1. 
 
 108. Wilson's Isle of Palms.— No. 38, art. 6. 
 
 109. Byron's Childe Harold.— No. 38, art. 10. 
 
 110. M'Crie's Life of John Knox.— No. 39, art. 1. 
 
 111. Miss Edgeworth's Tales of Fashionable Life.— No. 39, 
 
 art. 7. 
 
 112. Chenevix's Plays.— No. 39, art. 11. 
 
 113. Memoires do la Princesse cle Bareith. — No. 40, art. 1. 
 
 114. Crabbe's Tales.— No. 40, art. 2. 
 
 115. Leckie on the British Government. — No. 40, art. 4. 
 
 116. Rejected Addresses. -No. 40, art. 10. 
 
 117. Madme. de Stael sur La Literature. — No. 41, art. 1. 
 
 I is. Correspondence <lu Baron <!<• Grimm. — No. 42, art, 1. 
 
 1 19. Byron's I iiaour.— No. 42, art. 2. 
 
 120. Clarkson's Life of William Venn.— No. 42, art, 10.
 
 LIST OF CONTRIB1 TIONS. l--> 
 
 121. State and Prospects of Europe. — No. 45, art. 1. 
 
 122. Byron's Corsair and Bride of Abydos. — No. 45, art. 9. 
 
 123. Correspondence du Baron de Grimm.— No. 46, art. 2. 
 
 124. Alison's Sermons. — No. 46, art. 9. 
 
 125. Wordsworth's Excursion, a Poem. — No. 47, art. 1. 
 
 126. Hogg's Queen's Wake.— No. 47, art. 8. 
 
 127. Tennant's Anster Fair.— No. 47, art. 9. 
 
 128. Waverley; a Novel.— No. 47, art. 11. 
 
 129. Scott's Lord of the Isles.— No. 48, art. 1. 
 
 130. Paradise of Coquettes. — No. 48, art. 8. 
 
 131. Southey's Koderick, the last of the Goths. — No. 49, 
 
 art. 1. 
 
 132. Wordsworth's White Doe of Rylstone.— No. 50, art. 4. 
 
 133. Memoires de Madame de Larochejaqulein. — No. 51, 
 
 art. 1. 
 
 134. Southey's Lay of the Laureate. — No. 52, art. 8. 
 
 135. Wilson's City of the Plague.— No. 52, art. 10. 
 
 136. Hunt's Story of Rimini.— No. 52, art. 11. 
 
 137. Scott's Edition of Swift— No. 53, art. 1. 
 
 138. Byron's Poetry.— No. 54, art. 1. 
 
 139. Watt Tyler and Mr. Southey.— No. 55, art. 7. 
 
 140. Tales of My Landlord.— No. 55, art. 9. 
 
 141. Franklin's Correspondence. — No. 56, art. 1. 
 
 142. Miss Edgeworth's Tales.— No. 56, art. 6. 
 
 143. Byron's Manfred. — No. 56, art. 7. 
 
 144. Hazlitt on Shakspere. — No. 56, art. 9. 
 
 145. Coleridge's Literary Life. — No. 56, art. 10. 
 
 146. Moore's Lalla Rookh.— No. 57, art. 1. 
 
 147. Byron's Beppo. — No. 58, art. 2. 
 
 148. Rob Roy.— No. 58, art. 7. 
 
 149. Hall's Voyage to Loo-Choo— No. 58, art. 10. 
 
 150. Madame de Sta< ; l sur la Revolution Franchise. — No. 60, 
 
 art. 1. 
 
 151. Prison Discipline. — No. 60, art. 9.
 
 424 APPENDIX. 
 
 152. Eogers' Human Life ; a Poem. — No. 62, art. 4. 
 
 153. Campbell's British Poetry.— No. 62, art. 11. 
 
 154. Dr. King's Memoirs. — No. 63, art. 4. 
 
 155. Crabbe's Tales of the Hall.— No. 63, art. 7. 
 
 156. State of the Country.— No. 64, art. 2. 
 
 157. Ivanhoe. — No. 65, art. 1. 
 
 158. Cornwall's Poems. — No. 65, art. 8. 
 
 159. Life of Curran.— No. 66, art. 1. 
 
 160. Dispositions of England and America. — No. 66, art. 6. 
 
 161. Edgeworth's Memoirs.— No. 67, art. 6. 
 
 162. The Sketch-Book.— No. 67, art. 8. 
 
 163. Keats' Poetry.— No. 67, art. 10. 
 
 164. Quaker Poetry.— No. 68, art. 4. 
 
 165. Cornwall's Marcian Colonna. — No. 68, art. 11. 
 
 166. Byron's Marino Faliero.— No. 70, art. 1. 
 
 167. Southey's Vision of Judgment ; Laureate Haxameters. — 
 
 No. 70, art. 9. 
 
 168. Bowdler's Family Shakspere. — No. 71, art. 3. 
 
 169. Madame de Stael. — No. 71, art. 4. 
 
 170. Byron's Tragedies.— No. 72, art. 5. 
 
 171. The Fortunes of Nigel.— No. 73, art. 8. 
 
 172. Simond's Switzerland.— No. 74, art. 1. 
 
 173. Bracebridge Hall.— No. 74, art. 3. 
 
 174. French Poetry.— No. 74, art. 6. 
 
 175. Wordsworth's Tour on the Continent. — No. 74, art. 8. 
 
 176. Moore and Byron.— No. 75, art. 2. 
 
 177. Cobbett's Cottage Economy. — No. 75, art. 5. 
 
 178. Secondary Scottish Novels.— No. 77, art. 9. 
 
 1 79. Dr. Meyrick on Ancient Armour. — No. 78, art. 4. 
 
 180. Brodie's Constitutional History. — No. 79, art. 5. 
 
 181. Malcolm's Central India.— No. 80, art. 1. 
 1X2. Dr. Lyall on Kussia.— No. 80, art. 9. 
 
 183. Sketches of India, and Scenes in Egypt and Italy. — No. 
 81, art. 2.
 
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTK 425 
 
 184. Campbell's Theodoric, and other Poems. — No. 82, art. 1 
 
 185. Goethe's Wilhelm Meister.— No. 84, art. 7. 
 
 186. Pepy's Memoirs.— No. 85, art. 2. 
 
 187. Combe's System of Phrenology. — No. 88, art. 1. 
 
 188. Moore's Life of Sheridan.— No. 89, art. 1. 
 
 189. Memoirs of the Emperor Baber. — No. 91, art. 2. 
 
 190. O'Driscol's History of Ireland.— No. 92, art. 7. 
 
 191. Lord Collingwood's Correspondence. — No. 94, art. 5. 
 
 192. Irving's Life and Voyages of Columbus. — No. 95, art. 1. 
 
 193. Atherstone's Fall of Nineveh ; a Poem. — No. 95, art. 3. 
 
 194. Bishop Heber's Journal. — No. 96, art. 2. 
 
 195. Felicia Hemans. — No. 99, art. 2. 
 
 196. Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe. — No. 99, art. 4. 
 
 197. Naval Tactics. Breaking of the Enemy's Line. — No. 
 
 101, art. 1. 
 
 198. Memoirs of Sir James Mackintosh. — No. 125, art. 11. 
 
 199. Wilberforce's Correspondence. — No. 145, art. 2. 
 
 200. Watt or Cavendish ?— No. 175, art. 3.
 
 420 APPENDIX. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO LORD JEFFREY'S 
 MONUMENT, 
 
 And the places where Subscriptions were made. 
 
 Adam, Sir Charles, K.C.B., Edinburgh. 
 
 Adam, Dr. Walter, Edinburgh. 
 
 Advertiser, Proprietors of the North British, Edinburgh. 
 
 AiDslie, Robert, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Alison, Archibald, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Ambrose, William, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Anderson, Adam, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Anderson, Sir James, Lord Provost of Glasgow. 
 
 Andrews, Biggs, Esq., Q.C., London. 
 
 Anstruther, Mrs., London. 
 
 Arnott, James, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Arnott, J. Walker, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Austin, Mrs., London. 
 
 Bannatyne, Andrew, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Barclay, Rev. Thomas, Minister of Currie, Edinburgh. 
 
 Barr, William, Esq., Sheriff-Clerk of Renfrewshire, Edinburgh. 
 
 Barron, George, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Bell, Alexander M., Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Bell, J. M., Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Bell, Lady, London. 
 
 Bell, Robert, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Beveridge, Thomas, Esq., D.C.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Black, Adam, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Black, Charles, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Booth, James, Esq., London. 
 
 Boyd, John, Esq., Glasgow.
 
 LIST OF SI BSCRIBERS. 127 
 
 Boyle, Archibald T., Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Boyle, Right Hon. David, Lord Justice-General, Edinburgh. 
 
 Breadalbane, .Marquis of, Edinburgh. 
 
 Bright, Richard, Esq., M.D., London. 
 
 Brock, Henry, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Brodie, James C, Esq. of Lethen, Edinburgh. 
 
 Brodie, John Clerk, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Brougham and Vaux, Right Hon. Lord, London. 
 
 Brown, Dr., Broadfield House, Lincolnshire, Edinburgh. 
 
 Brown, John, Esq., M.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Brown, Thomas, Esq. of Langfine, Ayrshire, Edinburgh. 
 
 Brown, Thomas, Esq., jun. of do., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Bryson, Robert, and Sons, Clockmakers, Edinburgh. 
 
 Buchanan, Walter, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Burnet, John, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Burns, William, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Burton, John H., Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Campbell, A. D., Esq., Glasgow. 
 Campbell, Right Hon. Lord, London. 
 Campbell, James, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Campbell, James, Esq. of Craigie, Edinburgh. 
 Campbell, N. Colquhoun, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Campbell, William, Esq. of Tillichewan, Glasgow. 
 Carmichael, Sir Alex. Gibson, Bart., Edinburgh. 
 Carmichael, William Gibson, Esq., Cambridge, Edinburgh. 
 Cathcart, Elias, Esq. of Auchandrane, Ayrshire. 
 Caw, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Chambers, Robert, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Chaplin, Thomas Robertson, Esq., Edinburgh 
 Christison, Professor, M.D., Edinburgh. 
 Cleghorn, Thomas, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Cockburn, Lord, Edinburgh. 
 Caldwell, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Constable, Thomas, Esq., Edinburgh.
 
 428 APPENDIX. 
 
 Cormack, David, Esq., S.S.C., Edinburgh. 
 
 Couper, John, Esq., M.D., Glasgow. 
 
 Couper, William, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Courant, Proprietors of the Edinburgh Evening 
 
 Coventry, Andrew, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Cowan, Alexander, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Cowan, Charles, Esq., M.P., Edinburgh. 
 
 Cowan, David, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Cowan, John, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Craig, Sir James Gibson, Bart., Edinburgh. 
 
 Craig, James T. Gibson, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Craig, Mrs. James Gibson, Edinburgh. 
 
 Craig, William Gibson, Esq., M.P., Edinburgh. 
 
 Craufurd, James, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Crawfurd, George, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Crichton, Hew, Esq., S.S.C., Edinburgh. 
 
 Crichton, Hew Hamilton, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Chrichton, J. A., Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Crowe, Mrs. J. A., Edinburgh. 
 
 Cuninghame, Lord, Edinburgh. 
 
 Currie, Alexander, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Dalmeny, Right Hon. Lord, Edinburgh. 
 Dalziel, George, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 Davidson, Archibald, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Dennistoun, Alexander, Esq. of Golf hill, Glasgow. 
 Dickens, Charles, Esq., London. 
 Dickson, Peter, Esq., London. 
 Dreghorn, D., Esq., Glasgow. 
 Drummond, Hon. H., Edinburgh. 
 Duncan, Flockhart, and Co., Edinburgh. 
 Duncan, James, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 Dundas, George, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Dundas, John, Esq.. W.S., Edinburgh. 
 Dunfermline, IJi^ht Hon. Lord. Edinburgh.
 
 LIST <)!■' SUBSCRIKKKS. t29 
 
 Dunlop, Alexander, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Dunlop, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Dylke, G. W., Esq., London. 
 
 Ellice, Eight Hon. Edward, Edinburgh. 
 Erskine, Thomas, Esq. of Linlathen, Edinburgh. 
 Ewing, James, Esq. of Strathleven, Glasgow. 
 Ewing, William, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Fairie, James, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Ferguson, John, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Ferguson, Mrs. Hamilton Nisbet, Edinburgh. 
 
 Findlay, Kobert, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Finlay, Alex. F., Esq. of Castle Toward, Glasgow. 
 
 Finlay son, James, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Flahault, Count, London. 
 
 Fletcher, Angus, Esq. of Dunans, Edinburgh. 
 
 Fletcher, Mrs. Archd., Edinburgh. 
 
 Forbes, Professor James D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Friend, A., Edinburgh. 
 
 Gardiner, T. G., Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Gillespie, Alexander, Esq., M.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Gordon, Joseph, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Graham, Adam, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Graham, Alexander, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Graham, Robert, Esq. of Balgowan, Edinburgh. 
 
 Graham, Miss Stirling, Edinburgh. 
 
 Graham, William, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Grant, D., Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Grant, Joseph, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Guthrie, Eev. Thomas, D.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Hallam, Henry, Esq., London.
 
 430 A.PPENDIX. 
 
 Hamilton and Brandon, Duke of, Glasgow. 
 
 Hamilton, Sir William, Bart., Edinburgh. 
 
 Handyside, Robert, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Hanna, Rev. Thomas, D.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Hay, James, Esq., Leith, Edinburgh. 
 
 Hay, Samuel, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Heavyside, Professor, Edinburgh. 
 
 Herschell, Sir John F. W., London. 
 
 Hibbert, Nathaniel, Esq., London. 
 
 Hill, Rev. Alexander, D.D., Glasgow. 
 
 Hill, Lawrence, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Hill, Thomas, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Holland, H., Esq., M.D., London. 
 
 Hope, Rt. Hon. John, Lord Justice-Clerk, Edinburgh. 
 
 Horner, Leonard, Esq., London. 
 
 Hotson, John, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Howard, Hon. Charles W. G., London. 
 
 Hunter, John, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Inglis, Charles Craigie Halkett, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Inglis, John, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Innes, Cosmo, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Innes, William Mitchell, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Ivory, Lord, Edinburgh. 
 
 Ivory, William, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Jamieson, Rev. R., Glasgow. 
 
 Jardine, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Jeffrey, John, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Jones, Rev. R., London. 
 
 Kennedy, Right Hon. T. F., London. 
 Kidston, J. B., Esq., Glasgow. 
 Kieser, J. C, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Kirkpatrick, John, Esq., Edinburgh.
 
 I.isr OF SUBSCRIBERS. i'M 
 
 Kirk wood, Anderson, Esq., Glasgow. 
 Knox, Robert, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Laing, Mrs., Edinburgh. 
 Lamond, Robert, Esq., Glasgow. 
 Lansdowne, Marquis of, London. 
 Lang, J. L.j Esq., Glasgow. 
 Lawric, Robert, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Leslie, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Lindsay, Donald, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Lindsay, John M., Esq., P. C. S., Edinburgh. 
 Loch, James, Esq., M.P., London. 
 Logan, Alex. S., Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Logie, William, Esq., Glasgow. 
 Longman and Co., Messrs., London. 
 Lyell, Sir Charles, London. 
 
 Macara, Laurence, M., Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 Macaulay, Right. Hon. T. B., London. 
 Macbean, iEneas, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 Maccallum, G. Kellie, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 McClelland, James, Esq., Glasgow. 
 Macculloch, J. R., Esq., London. 
 M'Ewan, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Macfarlan, David, Esq., H.E.I.C.S., Edinburgh. 
 Macfarlan, Very Rev. Principal, Glasgow. 
 Macfarlane, Robert, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Macfie, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 M'Hardie, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Mackay, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Mackenzie, G. S., Esq., 72d Regiment, London. 
 Mackenzie, Right Hon. Holt, Edinburgh. 
 Mackenzie, James, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 Mackenzie, Keith W. Stewart, Esq., London.
 
 432 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mackenzie, Lord, Edinburgh. 
 
 Mackenzie, Peter, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Mackenzie, Hon. Mrs. Stewart, London. 
 
 Mackenzie, Miss Stewart, London. 
 
 Mackenzie, Thomas, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Maclagan, David, Esq., M.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Maclagan, Douglas, Esq., M.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Maclaren, Charles, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 MacNeill, Duncan, Esq., Dean of Faculty, Edinburgh. 
 
 MacNeiil, Sir John, G.C.B., Edinburgh. 
 
 Mail, Proprietor of the North British, Edinburgh. 
 
 Maitland, Edward F., Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Maitland, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Maitland, T., Esq., Solicitor-General, Edinburgh. 
 
 Marcet, Mrs. Jane, London. 
 
 Marshall, John, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Martin, Charles, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Maxwell, Sir John, Bart., Glasgow. 
 
 Medwyn, Lord, Edinburgh. 
 
 Melville, Rev. H., London. 
 
 Miller, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Miller, Professor, Edinburgh. 
 
 Milman, Rev. Hen. H., D.D., Dean of St. Pauls, London. 
 
 Minto, Earl of, Edinburgh. 
 
 Mitchell, Andrew, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Mitchell, James, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Moncrieff, Hugh, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Moncrieff, James, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Moncreiff, Lord, Edinburgh. 
 
 Moncreiff, William, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Montcagle, Right Hon. Lord, London. 
 
 Monteith, Alexander Earl, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Monteith, John, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Morrison, Alexander, Esq., Glasgow
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 433 
 
 Murray, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Murray, Lord, Edinburgh. 
 
 Murray, William, Esq. of Henderland, Edinburgh. 
 
 Napier, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 Neaves, Charles, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Newbigging, Sir William, M.D., Edinburgh. 
 Norwood, Edward, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 O'Brien, W., Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Oliver and Boyd, Messrs., Publishers, Edinburgh. 
 
 Orr, Robert, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Parker, W. A., Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Patrick, William, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Pell, Duncan C, Esq., New York. 
 
 Pell, Mrs. D. C, New York. 
 
 Petre, Mrs. J. B., London. 
 
 Pillans, Professor, Edinburgh. 
 
 Playfair, W. H., Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Primrose, Honourable Bouverie F., Edinburgh. 
 
 Ramage, C. T., Esq., Wallace Hall, Dumfriesshire. 
 Reddie, Charles, Esq., Glasgow. 
 Reddie, James, Esq., Glasgow. 
 Reeve, Henry, Esq., London. 
 Richardson Brothers, Edinburgh. 
 Richardson, John, Esq., London. 
 Rogers, Samuel, Esq., London. 
 Romily, Edw T ard, Esq., London. 
 Rosebery, Earl of, Edinburgh. 
 Russell, Right. Hon. Lord John, London. 
 Rutherfurd, Right Hon. Andrew, Lord Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 Rutherford, Captain James H., Edinburgh. 
 VOL. i. 2 F
 
 434 APPENDIX. 
 
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 Salmond, George, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
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 Shand, C. F., Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Simpson, James, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. 
 
 Sinclair, Sir George, of Ulbster, Bart., Edinburgh. 
 
 Smith, A., Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Smith, David, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
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 Smith, Colonel Henry, of Baltiboys, Edinburgh. 
 
 Smith, Mrs., of Baltiboys, Edinburgh. 
 
 Smith, Peter, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Smith, Mrs. Sydney, London. 
 
 Somerville, James, Esq., Selkirk, Edinburgh. 
 
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 Stair, Earl of, Edinburgh. 
 
 Steevens, Right Hon. Sir James, Bart., Cambridge, Edinburgh. 
 
 Sterling, George, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Stewart, Honourable C. F., London. 
 
 Stirling, James, Esq., C. E., Edinburgh. 
 
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 Tait and Nisbet, Messrs., Edinburgh. 
 
 Tennant, Andrew, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Tennant, John, Esq., Glasgow. 
 
 Thomson, Allen, Esq., M.D., Edinburgh. 
 
 Thomson, Archibald, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Thomson, G., Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Thomson, James Gibson, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Thomson, John, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Thomson, Thomas, Esq., Advocate, P.C.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Thomson, William, Esq., M.D.. Edinburgh.
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. t35 
 
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 Traill, Thomas Stewart, M.D., Professor, Edinburgh. 
 Turnbull, David, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 Turnbull, W., Esq., Eoyal Bank, Edinburgh. 
 Turnbull, W. B. D. D., Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Waddell, William, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
 Webster, James, Esq., Edinburgh. 
 
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 Wotherspoon, William, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. 
 
 Wrightson, W. B., Esq., M.P., Edinburgh. 
 
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