of the assistance I have received from them, and the deep impression which the extraordinary mark they have given me of their approbation and affection has made upon my mind, will be a source of perpetual consolation in my decline of life, under the pressure of bodily infirmities which made it my duty to retire.

"I am, Sir, with gratitude to you and the other gentlemen,

"Your most affectionate and obliged humble servant, "MANSFIELD.

"Kenwood, June 15, 1788."

CHAPTER XL.

CONCLUSION OF THE LIFE OF LORD MANSFIELD.

L

ORD MANSFIELD lived nearly five years after

his resignation, in the full enjoyment of all his mental faculties, memory included, although his strength gradually declined. Since his house in Bloomsbury Square was burnt down, 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.' He resumed his studies of the writings of Cicero, and, above all, he now prized his treatise DE SENECTUTE, conforming himself much to the precepts there incu!cated 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

A few years ago, the fashionable world had an opportunity of appreciating 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 fete champetre being given there by his great-grandnephew and representative, the present noble Earl-from whose splendid success on that occasion, the worshipers of the illustrious Chief Justice hoped that the fete would be annual.

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 for 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 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 of Session, in the year 1787, published a pamphlet recommending the introduction of 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 an opinion to Lord Swinton; but his niece, Lady Anne, acting as his amanuensis, wrote a note to Lord Henderland, which thus concludes:"L' H will be so good to say so much, and no more, to L'Swinton; but the moment L M heard the papers read, he dictated the enclosed memd" for L' H private He thinks the proposed introduction of juries is a

use.

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 equity, to control the inconveniences of a jury trying it. The giving it to the desire of both parties might be plausible; but were one only desires that mode of trial it is a reason against granting it, because many causes and persons have popular prejudices attending them which influence juries.

"A great deal of law and equity in England has arisen to regulate the course and obviate the inconveniences which attend this mode of trial. It has introduced a court of equity distinct from a court of law, which never existed in any other country, ancient or modern; it has formed a practice by the courts of law themselves and by acts of parliament, bills of exceptions, special verdicts, attaints, challenges, new trials, &c.

"Will you extend by a general reference all the law and equity now in use in England relative to trials by jury? The objections are infinite and obvious. On the other hand will you specify particularly what their system should be? The Court of Session and the Judges of England, added together, would find that a very difficult task."

These principles were unfortunately overlooked in the year 1807, when jury trial, exactly according to the English model, with its unanimity, special verdicts, and bills of exceptions, was introduced into Scotland. The experiment, I am afraid, has proved a failure, and Lord Mansfield's predictions have been fatally verified.

An amiable trait in his character, which distinguished

him to the last, was, that he took a lively interest in the welfare of all connected with him. By his advice, two sons of Lord Henderland (the present Mr. Murray of Henderland, and Lord Murray, lately Lord Advocate, now a Judge of the Court of Session) were sent to be educated at Westminster School.' The aged ex-Chief Justice was exceedingly kind to the boys, had them at Kenwood during the holidays, and sought to inspire them with a love of literature.

In a letter from Mr. Murray, not written for publication, but from which I hope I may, without impropriety, make a few extracts, he says—

"I first saw Lord Mansfield when I went to Westminster School in 1787, and used occasionally to spend part of my holidays at Kenwood. He was very kind, treating me familiarly as a boy, and always called me schoolfellow. He took a great interest in all that was going on in Westminster School, used to talk of his boyish days, and relate anedotes of what occurred when he was there. I remember one, of his having made a plum-pudding, and, there being no other apparatus for the purpose, it was boiled in his nightcap: he told this with great glee. He always drank claret, and had a decanter containing a few glasses placed by him at dinner, which he finished.

"He still took pleasure in ornamenting his grounds Some cedars in the wood opposite the house were planted by his own hand.

"He was a great admirer of Pope, and occasionally selected passages from his poems which he taught me to recite. His voice and modulation were beautiful.

"He told me he had conversed with a man who was present at the execution of the Blessed Martyr. How wonderful it seems there should only be one person be tween me and him who saw Charles's head cut off!"

He used to have parties of King's Bench lawyers to spend a day with him, and I have myself heard some of those who were present describe how agreeable he was.

1 it would appear that Lord Henderland was likewise influenced by the opinion of Dr. Johnson, with whom he had discussed the merits of Eng. lish public schools, in a party at “The Mitre.” See Boswell's Life of John son, iii. 9.