with the state of the bar, he did not know that this one Mr. Baldwin' was, at the time of which I am speaking, a barrister in great business, and was then sitting not half a yard from the orator's elbow. It occasioned a smile, or, perhaps, more than a smile, on every countenance in court; but the orator proceeded as steadily as before. In the course of his speech, he had occasion to mention the governess of the child; and he had done it in such terms as conveyed, or must have conveyed to any one possessed of ordinary powers of comprehension, an idea that she was an extremely improper person to remain with a young lady: on the next day, therefore, Mr. Jones appeared again in the seat which he had occupied the preceding day; and when the judges had taken their seats, he began, with the same high declamatory tone, to inform the court, that it was with the deepest regret, he had learned that, in what he had had the honour to state to their lordships the preceding day, he was understood to mean to say, that Mrs. was a harlot!' The gravity of every countenance in court yielded to the attack thus made upon it, and a general laugh was produced by it." (Memoirs, &c. vol. i. p. 224.)

6

LORD KAIMES.

The late Lord Kaimes used sometimes to let his wit get the better of his dignity as a judge. Be

ing on the circuit at Perth, after a witness on a capital trial had concluded his testimony, his Lordship said, "Sir, I have one question more to ask you, and remember you are on your oath. You say you are from Brechin ?”

Yes, my

"To

Lord." "When do you return thither ?"' morrow, my Lord." "Do you know Colin Gillies?'' "Yes, my Lord, I know him very well." "Then tell him that I shall breakfast with him on Tues day morning!"

LORD MANSFIELD'S CELEBRATED SPEECH AT THE TIME OF WILKES'S RIOTS.

"It is fit to take some notice of the various terrors hung out; the numerous crowds which have attended, and now attend, in and about the Hall, out of all reach of hearing what passes in court, and the tumults which in other places have shamefully insulted all order and government: audacious addresses dictate to us, from what they call the People, the judgment to be given, now and afterwards, upon the conviction. Reasons of policy are urged from danger to the kingdom by commotions and general confusion.

"Give me leave to take the opportunity of this great and respectable audience to let the world know all such attempts are vain: unless we have been able to find an error which will bear us out to reverse the outlawry, it must be affirmed. The

"

constitution does not allow reasons of state to influence our judgments. God forbid it should! We must not regard political consequences, how formidable soever they might be; if rebellion were the certain consequence, we are bound to say, Fiat Justitia, ruat cœlum. The constitution trusts the king with reasons of state and policy; he may stop prosecutions, he may pardon offences; it is his to judge whether the law or the criminal should yield. We have no election: none of us encouraged or approved the commission of either of the crimes of which the defendant is convicted; none of us had any hand in his being prosecuted. As to myself, I took no part (in another place) in the addresses for that prosecution. We did not advise or assist the defendant to fly from justice; it was his own act, and he must take the consequences. None of us have been consulted, or had any thing to do with the present prosecution. It is not in our power to stop it; it was not in our power to bring it on. We cannot pardon. We are to say what we take the law to be; if we do not speak our real opinions, we prevaricate with God and our own consciences.

"I pass over many anonymous letters I have received those in print are public; and some of them have been brought judicially before the court. Whoever the writers are, they take the wrong

way. I will do my duty unawed. What am I to fear? That mendax infamia from the press, which daily coins false facts and false motives? The lies of calumny carry no terror for me: I trust that my temper of mind, and the colour and conduct of my life, have given me a suit of armour against these arrows. If, during this king's reign, I have ever supported his government, and assisted his measures, I have done it without any other reward than the consciousness of doing what I thought right. If I have ever opposed, I have done it upon the points themselves, without mixing in party or faction, and without any collateral views. I honour the king and respect the people; but many things acquired by the favour of either, are, in my account, objects not worth ambition. I wish popularity; but it is that popularity which follows, not that which is run after. It is that popularity which, sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends by noble means. I will not do that which my conscience tells me is wrong, on this occasion, to gain the huzzas of thousands, or the daily praise of all the papers which come from the press. I will not avoid doing what I think is right, though it should draw on me the whole artillery of libels; all that falsehood or malice can invent, or the credulity of a deluded populace can swallow. I can say, with a great magistrate upon an occasion,

P

and under circumstances, not unlike, Ego hot animo semper fui, ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam haud infamiam putarem.'

"The threats go further than abuse; personal violence is denounced. I do not believe it. It is not the genius of the worst men in this coun try, in the worst of times; but I have set my mind at rest. The last end that can happen to any man never comes too soon, if he falls in sup. port of the law and liberty of his country, (for liberty is synonymous to law and government;) such a shock too might be productive of public good; it might awake the better part of the kingdom out of that lethargy, which seems to have benumbed them; and bring the mad part back to their senses, as men intoxicated are sometimes stunned into sobriety." (State Trials, xix. 1111.)

This speech excited much observation at the time, more especially the passage respecting popularity, which was remarked upon by Horne Tooke on his trial for libel. Opposite to the quotation from Cicero, Ego hoc animo, &c. Mr. Sergeant Hill had written in his Copy of Burrow's Reports the following passage from Swift.

"The world will never allow any man that character which he gives to himself by openly professing it to those with whom he converseth, Wit, learning, valour, acquaintance, the esteem of