conductor nor himself having the least suspicion of the mistake, till he came into the tent. Here the poor fellow, who knew Sir Henry's person, perceived his error; and, turning his head aside, 'he was seen to put something in his mouth, which, being half choked with terror, he swallowed with difficulty. The General, on examination, perceived at once how the man had mistaken his way, and ordered an emetic to be given him, which brought up a small silver bullet which they found to be hollow, and to contain a letter from Burgoyne to his colleague, short indeed and laconic, but unhappily for the bearer, sufficient to condemn him as a British spy in the American camp. The letter, disguised in French, was in these words; " Je suis ici, dépechez vous !"

Governor Clinton has been much afflicted with bad health during the greater part of his public life, doubtless owing, in no small degree, to the great and unremitted application to business, which the faithful discharge of his duty has required. We hope his present situation as Vice-president, whose functions will occupy him but a small part of the year, and then prove much easier in the discharge than those to which he has been accustomed, will press less heavily upon his constitution, and prepare for a comfortable old age, so as to enable him long to enjoy the consoling retrospect of services conferred on his country.

327

SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY,

EX-SOLICITOR GENERAL.

WHILE the navy and army defend the nation from a foreign enemy on one side, the constitution and the laws are intended to protect us from civil tyranny and domestic oppression on the other. Our common country, ever grateful, reserves honours for them all, and rewards each in a manner at once distinct and appropriate. On the men of the sword, are conferred the shining ornaments of stars and ribbands; for one* of the orders of modern chivalry, either is, or ought to be, reserved exclusively for them;

while appellations, commemorating the battles which they have gained, proclaim their deeds to the latest posterity. To the men of the robe, appertain recompences of a different kind. The two chiefs of the common law and chancery courts have, of late years, been usually ennobled : the other judges possess titles, although of an inferior degree; all have been admitted to the dignity of the coif, while their costume confers an air of gravity; becoming those men, who, at one period of the year sit in judgment on the lives and at another decide on the properties of their fellow subjects. Descending along the legal hierarchy, we find the boundaries of the respective ranks marked out and designated by scarlet, taffeta, and stuff, while the wig, by the peculiarities of its shape and make, is

* The Bath.

made to point out, as if by a telegraph, all the various degrees of dignity, from the "puisne judge," to the "utter barrister.”

That the bar is the slow, but certain road to honour, in this country, when talents are united with industry, and opportunity is happily afforded for the display of both, is a fact generally known: nay more, the fate of most of our counsel is early prognosticated, and their future designation in some measure settled by their own contemporaries. When a barrister of promise, such as Erskine once was, appears above the political horizon, his orbit is calculated and pointed out with the same nicety as that of a comet: his fellows look up to him with respect, clients flock around, friends multiply offers of service, and attornies besiege his chambers with briefs!

Some, and but few, like the "silver-tongued Murray," unite all the graces of elocution with the dry study of municipal jurisprudence; others, like Thurlow, rely on their native powers, and a certain bluntness of demeanour, which confers an air of originality; a third class, and here indeed the number is limited in the extreme, and the race appears to be nearly extinct, forming themselves, like Dunning, on the great models to be found in the history of our own jurisprudence, become constitutional lawyers, and soaring above all little groveling considerations, at the bar maintain the principles advocated by our ancestors, and in the senate both speak and vote in support of that freedom which has made us a great, and can alone make us a happy, people.

Sir Samuel, Romilly, in the same manner as his precursors, Hardwicke,Kenyon, and Ashburton, has been the architect of his own fortune. Like them too, he affects not to look up to what depends merely on chance, and can be conferred by no merit of his own; but with these he aspires to, and will in all probability become, the founder of a family. It is the custom of the vulgar herd of biographers, to lean towards great names, and to build a foundation on high birth, illustrious alliances, or ancient descent: but those who are desirous to instruct as well as to amuse, will readily search for, and find another inlet to respect, and a better claim to admiration.

The family of the subject of this memoir has been closely and intimately connected, for more than a century, with whatsoever appertains to civil or religious liberty. By one side, his ancestors consisted of those persecuted men, who, preferring conscience to affluence, in consequence of the revocation of the edict of Nantz, were driven from France by Louis XIV., at a period when no longer alive either to the love of justice or of glory, his couch was surrounded by a mistress and priests equally bigotted, and he consented in an evil hour to the expulsion of the Protestants. By the other side, he is connected with the little republic of Geneva, which, uniting a love of freedom with an attachment to the manual arts, became a model of all that was admirable in society, until unmerci fully swallowed up by the devouring despotism of imperial France.

His father, who was an ingenious man of great eminence* in his art, conferred on him a good education; all the rest has been achieved by himself. Having been destined for the law, he was brought up expressly for that purpose. Happening to be placed under a respectable gentleman in the Six Clerks Office, the latter soon discovered that his pupil possessed more than ordinary talents; and he accordingly advised young Romilly to enter his name as a member of one of the inns of court. This is a mere matter of course; for the Apprenticii ad legem, as the students were formerly termed, are no longer subject to mootings, and no longer troubled with attending readings on certain abstruse statutes, Money is now the only thing requisite, for with this any person of decent character is sure of being admitted to the bar, and without it, all the precision of a Buller, all the integrity of a Pratt, and all the keen-eyed sagacity of a Mansfield, would prove unavailing.

Mr. Romilly accordingly received a call," after the lapse of the usual period, on paying the usual fees. His wig and his stuff gown were exactly like those of every other barrister; but there was something under both, that soon distinguished him from the herd. In the law, nothing can be effected without industry; this he possessed in no common degree; yet labour will be of but little avail without

* He was many years jeweller to the king, and resided in Broad-street.