CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD TENTERDEN TILL HE WAS He is a puisne in the Common Pleas, 348. He is transferred to the King's Bench, 350. He becomes Chief Justice of England, 353. Extraordinary excellence of the King's Bench as a Court of Justice while he presided over it, 355. His great merit as a Judge, 357. His subjection under a favourite counsel, 359. His discretion in avoiding disputes about jurisdiction, 362. His decisions. The public have no common law right to the use of the sea-shore for bathing, 363. No action lies for pirating an obscene book, 366. His defence of the English doctrine of high-treason, 366. Libellous to say falsely that the Sovereign is afflicted with insanity, 367. Q. Whether the person who hires horses, with a driver, to draw his carriage for a day, is liable for the negligence of the driver? 369. The Cato Street conspiracy, 370. Improper proceeding in trying to forbid the publi- cation of trials for treason till they are all concluded, 372. The Chief Justice's dislike of technical niceties, 373. Doubtful decisions by him, 373. His propensity to suspect fraud, 374. His doctrine about " Q. Whether it would have been for his reputation that he had CONCLUSION OF THE LIFE OF LORD TENTERDEN. His degradation to the peerage, 378. Ceremony of his taking his seat in the House of Lords, 381. His maiden speech, 382. He opposes the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, 383. He opposes the Bill for Catholic Emancipation, 386. He opposes the Anatomy Bill, 389. He opposes the Bill for taking away capital punishment for forgery, 390. His efforts for amending the law, 390. His measure respecting prescription and tithes, 391. His sound views respecting parliamentary privilege, 394. He opposes the Reform Bill, 394. His last speech in the House of Lords, with his vow never again to enter the House if the Reform Bill passed, 396. His health declines, 398. His last circuit, 399. The long vacation before his death, 399. His last appearance in court, 400. His death, 401. His funeral, 401. His epitaph, 401. His character and manners, 402. Compliment to him by the Lord Mayor of London, 404. His recollections of Canterbury, 404. Character of Lord Tenterden by Lord Brougham, 406. By Mr. Justice Talfourd, 408. His love of classical literature and talent for making Latin verses, 409. Specimens of his Latin poems, 411. Present representative of the Chief Justice, 414. LIVES OF THE CHIEF JUSTICES OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER XL. CONCLUSION OF THE LIFE OF LORD MANSFIELD. LORD MANSFIELD lived nearly five years after his resignation, in the full enjoyment of all his mental 1793. field in faculties, memory included, although his A.D. 1788strength gradually declined. Since his house Lord Mansin Bloomsbury Square was burnt down, retirement. Kenwood had been his only residence; and here he remained, without being absent from it for a single night, till he breathed his last. He was much attached to the place: the great extent of the grounds gave ample scope for a display of his taste; he still went on planting and improving; he had great delight in showing the points from which the landscape appeared to most advantage; and he was gratified by the assurances which were truthfully poured out by his admiring friends, that there was nothing more charming to be seen within fifty miles of the metropolis.* * A few years ago, the fashionable world had an opportunity of appreciating VOL. IV. B He resumed his study of the writings of Cicero, and, above all, he now prized his treatise DE SENECTUTE, conforming himself much to the precepts there inculcated for giving a relish to this portion of human existence. Amidst the literary recreations and rural employments which made his days glide on delightfully, we might wish that he could have said with old Cato, "Causarum illustrium, quascunque defendi, nunc quam maxime conficio orationes;" but although he had taken pains in correcting his judgments, he seems to have been quite indifferent about his oratorical fame, and he never had any ambition to be an author. In the year 1784 he had lost his wife, after a happy union with her of half a century. His domestic establishment was now regulated, and his home made cheerful, by two accomplished and affectionate nieces, daughters of Viscount Stormont. The sudden cessation of professional occupation and political excitement is dangerous only to a man whose mind has not received early culture, and who is destitute of literary resources. Lord Mansfield in his retirement was never oppressed by ennui for a moment; and he found novelty and freshness in the calm, eventless life which he led. It should be mentioned, that his serenity was completed by a firm belief in the truths of religion, and the habitual observance of the pious rites which it prescribes. As a striking proof of the powers of mind and felicity of expression which still distinguished him, I am enabled to lay before the reader a few sentences dictated the taste of the great Lord Mansfield in the formation of this place, and seeing the trees which, in his old age, he had planted with his own hand, a most splendid fête champêtre being given there by his great-grand-nephew and repre sentative the present noble Earl;- from whose splendid success on that occasion the worshippers of the illustrious Chief Justice hoped that the fête would be annual. His opinion introduction in Scotland. by him (which might be expanded into a folio volume) on a subject very interesting to his native. country. Lord Swinton, a judge of the Court upon the of Session, in the year 1787 published a of jury trial pamphlet recommending the introduction of in civil cases jury trial into Scotland in certain specified civil actions, and requested that he might have the opinion upon the subject of the individual best qualified to consider it from his unprecedented experience of juries and his familiar knowledge of the law both of Scotland and England. This request was conveyed through Lord Henderland, another judge of the Court of Session, who was related to Lord Mansfield by blood, and was married to his niece. The great jurist, thus consulted as an oracle, was then disabled from writing by rheumatism in his hand, and, on the score of indisposition, civilly declined giving any opinion to Lord Swinton; but his niece, Lady Anne, acting as his amanuensis, wrote a note to Lord Henderland, which thus concludes:-"La Ha will be so good to say so much, and no more, to La Swinton; but the moment La Ma heard the papers read, he dictated the inclosed memdm for La Ha's private use. He thinks the proposed introduction of juries is a very rash innovation, and will be attended with many consequences which no man alive can foresee." Here follows the memorandum which was inclosed, every line of which is worth a subsidy : "Great alterations in the course of the administration of justice ought to be sparingly made, and by degrees, and rather by the Court than by the Legislature. The partial introduction of trials by jury seems to me big with infinite mischief, and will produce much litigation. "Under the words proposed, it may be extended almost to anything,-reduction, restitution, fraud, injury. It is curious that fraud, which is always a complicated proposition of law and fact, was held in England as one of the reasons for a court of |