CHAPTER CLXXVI.

LIFE OF LORD CHANCELLOR ERSKINE FROM HIS BIRTH TILL HE
WAS CALLED TO THE BAR.

Lord Er

Lord El

I RESERVE Lord Loughborough's immediate successor for the CHAP. conclusion of my work. After a short suspension of Lord CLXXVI. Eldon's Chancellorship, it was prolonged above twenty years Reasons under George III., under the Regency, and under George IV. for writing He lived down to the reign of Queen Victoria, and he took the life of an active part in politics long after he quitted office-stre- skine benuously opposing the repeal of the Test Act, Catholic Eman- fore that of cipation, the Reform Bill, and the other measures which have don. placed our institutions, for good or for evil, in the condition. in which we now behold them. The rival to whom he yielded for a brief space, nearly closed his public life brilliant — so useful to his country-when forced to resign the Great Seal in 1807, amidst cries that the Church was in danger, because it had been proposed that Roman Catholics might hold in the army the rank of field officer. It will, therefore, be more convenient that I should now proceed with the Life of this illustrious advocate and patriot.

SO

I confess that I am impatient to behold him, and to attend him in his extraordinary career, as he ever engaged the affections as well as excited wonder and applause from the time he learned "Shantrews" in the dancing school at St. Andrew's, till he presided on the Woolsack at the trial of Lord Melville. Since I accompanied to the tomb the venerable Camden, I have passed through many disagreeable scenes with the dull Bathurst, the overbearing Thurlow, and the faithless Loughborough. I have before me a long journey in the society of Eldon, with whom, notwithstanding his great abilities, profound learning, and delightful manners, I must often quarrel for his selfishness and insincerity, as well as for his bigotry.

CHAP. CLXXVI.

A.D. 1750.

His birth.

His descent.

The subject of this memoir commands my love and my respect. He had imperfections to which I am not blind, and which I shall not attempt to conceal; but he displayed genius united with public principle; he saved the liberties of his country; he was the brightest ornament of which the English Bar can boast; and from his vivacity, his courtesy, and his kindness of heart, he was the charm of every society which he entered.

On the 10th day of January 1750, in a small and illfurnished room in an upper "flat" of a very lofty house in the old town of Edinburgh, first saw the light the Honourable Thomas Erskine, the future defender of Stockdale, and Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. * He was the youngest son of Henry David, tenth Earl of Buchan, and counted in his ancient line many distinguished ancestors. The Erskinest

are said originally to have been "of that ilk" deriving their name territorially from the domain of "Erskine" on the banks of the Clyde, but they were so early ennobled that Lord Hailes says, "the title of Marr, which they bore, is one of those titles the origin of which is lost in their antiquity: it existed before our records, and before the æra of genuine history." MARTACUS, the first Earl of Marr, of whom authentic mention is made, was contemporary with Malcolm Canmore and William the Conqueror. James Erskine, a younger son of James the seventh Earl of Marr, and grandson of the Regent Marr, married the heiress of the Earldom of Buchan, which had existed in the time of William the Lion, and being descendible to females had passed through the Stuarts, the Comyns, and other illustrious Scottish houses. Thereupon he had a new charter limiting it to his "heirs male and assigns whatever," and he is called the "sixth Earl

*The houses in Edinburgh, some of them sixteen stories high, were then let in stories, or "flats," as houses in Paris now are.

The name was variously spelt "Ereskin," "Airskin," and "Areseskin." Voltaire, in his Letters on the English Nation, writes it "Hareskins." The common pronunciation in Scotland is " Askin," which gave rise to an often-told repartee of the famous Henry Erskine. A silly fellow at the Scotch bar, not liking a question put to him by the witty Dean of Faculty, testily said, "Harry, I never meet you but I find you Askin;" to which he replied, "And I, Bob, never meet you but I find an Anser."

CLXXVI.

* 1625.

his father.

His infancy

at Edin

burgh.

of Buchan." He and his descendants wasted the ample pa- CHAP. trimony once belonging to the title, and in the middle of the 18th century, Henry David, the tenth Earl, with a nu- Nov. 25. merous offspring, was reduced to an income of 2007. a year. However, his Countess, daughter of Sir James Stewart of Poverty of Goodtrees in the county of Mid-Lothian, Baronet, was a woman of extraordinary intellect, which had been highly cultivated, and she was equally remarkable for eminent piety and for peculiar skill in housewifery. The family had been obliged to abandon an old castle standing on the last remnant of their estates, for the elevated but wretched habitation I have mentioned, in the metropolis of Scotland, where their poverty could be better concealed and their children might be cheaply educated. The Countess herself taught them to read, and was at great pains to instil into their infant minds the doctrines of the true Presbyterian faith. The Erskines were reckoned a most "godly" race. The Earl's great grandfather had suffered in the Covenanting cause in the preceding century, and those pious men, Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, who had recently seceded from the Establishment, and whose sentiments have been adopted and acted upon by the Free Church of Scotland, were his "far-away cousins." Not only was the house frequented by the eloquent divines who then flourished in Edinburgh, but by the leaders of the "Parliament House," and by members of other families almost as noble and almost as reduced,-who came to partake of "a social dish of tea," so that young Tom from his infancy saw society well calculated to form his manners, and to sharpen his intellect. He is said early to have discovered that buoyancy of spirit and playfulness of fancy which afterwards distinguished him. For some years he was kept at the High School of Edinburgh, still-according to the Scottish usage, which is attended with many advantages-eating his meals at home, having oatmeal porridge for breakfast, and soup

* It is curious to observe, that notwithstanding the strict law of entail in Scotland, which is so injurious to the country, the nobles there have fallen into poverty much more than in England, where family estates are either unfettered, or are preserved by settlements, made with the joint consent of father and son in each succeeding generation.

CHAP. maigre, called "kail," for dinner. While he remained here CLXXVI. he is said generally to have been "Dux" of his class, although he was pretty frequently subjected to the discipline of the "tawse."

A. D. 1762.

His education at St. Andrew's.

Letter to

With all Lady Buchan's economy and good management, the metropolis was found too expensive for the very slender finances of the family, and in the beginning of the year 1762 they removed to St. Andrew's, in the county of Fife, where house-rent was lower, and where they could entirely abstain from receiving company- the education being nothing inferior. Of Tom Erskine, at this period of his life, I can speak from undoubted authority; for he was in the same class with my own father, and with George Hill, afterwards Principal of St. Mary's College, my preceptor, both of whom I have frequently heard talk of him. They described him as of quick parts and retentive memory, rather idly inclined, but capable of great application-full of fun and frolicand ever the favourite of his master and his playmates.

There is extant a very interesting letter, written by him while a school-boy here, to his eldest brother, Lord Cardross, who had been left behind with a relation at Edinburgh.

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

66

August 11. 1762.

"I received your letter, and it gave me great joy to hear that his brother. you were in health, which I hope will always continue. I am in my second month at the dancing-school. I have learned shantrews and the single hornpipe, and am just now learning the double hornpipe. There is a pretty large Norway ship in the harbour: the captain took Harry and me into the cabin, and entertained us with French claret, Danish biscuit, and smoked salmon; and the captain was up in the town seeing Papa to-day. He is to sail on Friday, because the stream is great. Yesterday I saw Captain Sutherland exercise his party of Highlanders, which I liked very well to see. In the time of the vacation Harry and me writes themes, reads Livy and French, with Mr. Douglas, between ten

* The same saltatory course prevailed when I was at St. Andrew's. The name and dance of "shantrews" some ascribe to a Highland origin, — some to our ancient allies the French. The memory of Lady Buchan was then green, and I was shown a cave on the sea-shore in which she used to drink tea, and make her toilette when she bathed - still called "Lady Buchan's Cove."

1762-1763.

and eleven. Papa made me a present of a ring-dial, which I am СНАР. very fond of, for it tells me what o'clock it is very exactly. You CLXXVI. bid me, in your last letter, write to you when I had nothing better to do; but, I assure you, I think I cannot employ myself better than to write to you, which I shall take care to do very often. Adieu, my dear brother, and believe me, with great affection,

"Yours,

"T. E."

of his

At the grammar school of St. Andrew's, under Mr. Hacket, Progress a zealous teacher but not much of a scholar, he attained only studies. a moderate proficiency in Latin, and learned little of Greek beyond the alphabet. But he was carefully taught to compose in English, as if it had been a foreign language, and being fond of books, he read, in a desultory way, many English poems, plays, voyages, and travels. He never was matriculated in the university of St. Andrew's*, but in the session 1762-3+ he attended the Mathematical and Natural Philosophy classes, taught by professors of considerable eminence, and from them he imbibed the small portion of science of which he could ever boast.

as to his

With a seriousness not to be expected from his years or Thoughts his disposition, he began to consider how he was to make his future desway in the world, and he expressed a wish to be bred to tination. some learned profession, in which he might distinguish himself. His father and mother truly told him, however, that they could not afford this expense, as their means were entirely exhausted in sending his eldest brother, Cardross, to study at Leyden, and educating his second brother, Henry, for the Scotch bar; and that they could do nothing better for him than send him to sea as a midshipman. Being His relucearnestly bent on mental improvement, and having a particular aversion to the sea service, if he must serve his Majesty, he prayed that a commission in the army might be procured for him. After a correspondence between his

This I have ascertained by the assistance of Sir David Brewster, Principal of St. Leonard's and St. Salvator's at present the great ornament of that seat of learning.

†The session begins in November and ends in May.

tance to go

to sea.