CHAP. the decrees of their supreme Court were to be subjected to revision in the British House of Lords, loftier objects of ambition were presented to them than to their forefathers, and that they might enjoy the power, and eclipse the fame, of a Somers or a Hardwicke. But it is painful and humiliating to be obliged to recollect, and to confess, that this harbinger of good fortune of whom we might have been so proud—was almost entirely devoid of public principle, and in all his movements seems to have been actuated exclusively by a view to his own aggrandisement, careless about any improvement of the laws and constitution,-contented with the present possession of high office, and reckless of his reputation with posterity: "Pudet hæc opprobria nobis Et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli." Nevertheless, it is a consolation to me to think that I can relieve his memory from some portion of the obloquy which has been so unsparingly cast upon it. Surrendering him to severe censure as a politician, I must say, that his delinquencies were considerably exaggerated by his contemporaries, and that he has been hardly treated by those who, since his decease, have attempted to delineate his character. It will be found that he not only uniformly conformed to the manners and rules supposed to distinguish a "gentleman,” but that in his changes of party he was never guilty of private treachery, and never attempted to traduce those whom he had deserted ;--that before he became a "Wilkite," Lord Bute had withdrawn from public life;— that he had formed no engagements with Lord Chatham or Lord Rockingham, of which they could complain when he joined Lord North; that to this leader he remained true till the "Coalition" associated him with the Whigs;--and that when he left the liberal party to grasp the Great Seal, he was accompanied by Mr. Burke, the Duke of Portland, Lord Spencer, and Lord Fitzwilliam. For his conduct during "the reign of terror" which followed, I am afraid that the prevailing dread of revolutionary doctrines can form little Al palliation; but it will be refreshing to behold him, while still in possession of the Great Seal, the patron and protector of the author of the VINDICIE GALLLICE against the narrowminded persecution of the Benchers of Lincoln's Inn. though, his occupations after his fall were not very dignified, perhaps he was as harmlessly employed in trying at Windsor to cultivate the personal favour of the old king as if he had gone into hot opposition, or had coquetted with all parties in the House of Lords in the vain hope of recovering his office. — Proceeding with my task, however disagreeable it may sometimes be, I shall be cheered by reflecting that I might have had more discreditable disclosures to make, and heavier censures to inflict. CHAP. CLXII. Alexander Wedderburn*, afterwards Lord Loughborough, Lough borough's Earl of Rosslyn, and Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, was birth. born on the 13th of February in the year 1733, in East Lothian.t He was the eldest son of Peter Wedderburn, who was owner of a small estate in that county, called Chesterhall, and who exercised the profession of an advocate in Edinburgh with the reputation of a good lawyer, though without making a large professional income. Indeed at this time the pabulum for the Scotch bar was very scanty, so that an advocate was supposed to be in great practice who made 500l. sterling a-year, and the appointments of the "Senators of the College of Justice," or "Lords of Session," or "Judges of the Supreme Civil Court in Scotland" were not more considèrable. The Wedderburns of Chesterhall, though not very wealthy, were of ancient descent, and had acted a prominent part. They were sprung from the Wedderburns of Wedderburn (or of that ilk), whose The name was often spelt with a final e; but I make no doubt that this is the most accurate as well as the modern orthography, the place from which the family name is taken being evidently the "burn," or brook, in which the "weathers" were washed the Scotch mode of pronouncing it to this day being "Weatherburn." A valuable correspondent states that Wedderburn was born at Edinburgh, adding, that "all the Scotsmen who have ever held the Great Seal of England were natives of that city-Loughborough, Erskine, Brougham." I have in vain tried to find the register of his baptism. I think the evidence preponderates in favour of the rural birth-place. CLXII. CHAP chief, Walter de Wedderburn, signed the Ragman Roll, and (I am ashamed to say) along with the chief of the Campbells, did homage to Edward I.—a disgrace which they redeemed at Bannockburn. His ancestors. In the year 1640, the Chancellor's ancestor, Mr. Alexander Wedderburn of Chesterhall, was deputed by the Scots, along with the Earl of Dunfermline, and Sir Patrick Hepburn, to settle several important points with the English parliament, shortly before the commencement of the civil war, and Sir Peter, his great-grandfather, was appointed by Charles II, first a commissioner of the royal revenue in Scotland, and afterwards a Judge of the Court of Session. * Peter, his father, was likewise elevated to the bench by George II. in July, 1756, under the title of Lord Chesterhall, but had a very short enjoyment of his dignity, dying while his hopeful son was still practising at the Scottish bar -- although dreaming of conquests in Westminster Hall. I have only picked up one anecdote of young Alexander's infant years. This bears some resemblance to an occurrence which befell Lord Somers about the same age, and was supposed to foretell that Chancellor's future greatness, but the omen of the Scottish boy might have been interpreted as marking him out for outrage and disgrace - from which he was barely to escape with his life. When he was between boy nearly three and four years old, having provoked a fierce Turkey cock, by hallooing to him,— When a killed by a turkey cock. "Bubbly Jock, your wife is a witch, And she is going to be burnt with a barrel of pitch." The animal flew at the child, laid him flat on the ground, and seemed disposed to peck his eyes out, when he was saved See Branston and Haig's "Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice," pp. 394. 521. My readers are probably aware that these titles are enjoyed merely by courtesy with the office of Judge, without conferring any privileges of peerage. I know not the meaning of this nursery rhyme; but I have myself, when a child, often heard it applied to turkey cocks. by his nurse, who rushed in to the rescue with a broom in her hand. A young lad, then acting in the family as assistant to the gardener, having witnessed this scene, and many years afterwards, when passing through London, having been carried into the Court of Chancery to see Lord Loughborough in all his glory, instead of being, as was expected, overwhelmed with admiration and awe,- after he had coolly contemplated him for some time, at length exclaimed, "Weel! Weel! he may be a great man noo, but I mind fine he was aince sair hadden doon by his mither's bubbly jock!" CHAP. CLXII. His early education by his This lady, celebrated for the care which she took in the rearing of her children as well as of her poultry, was born an Ogilvie, was descended from the Earls of Airlie, and was mother. possessed of a taste for literature rare among the females of that day. While the "Laird" was absorbed in the business of the Parliament House at Edinburgh, or the farm at Chesterhall, she not only taught little Alec to read, but early inspired him with a love of books, so that he made wonderful progress in his studies, and displayed a precocity in his intellect as well as his acquirements which (as we shall see) excited the admiration of the literati of Scotland. When about six years old he was sent to a school at Dalkeith, then kept by Mr. James Barclay, a very able and successful teacher. Here he met the famous Harry Dundas, afterwards Lord Viscount Melville, and a friendship was established between them, which, in spite of political differences, lasted for life. I have not ascertained whether they were in the same form, or whether either of them was "Dux," or whether they were often subjected to the discipline of the "tawse,"*—in those times considered a necessary instrument for the inculcation of learning; but they are both said to have been remarkable boys, Dundas being distinguished for vigour and rough jocularity, and Wedderburn for dexterity and cunning. While here they acquired a considerable The Scottish ferula. He is sent to school at Dalkeith. CHAP. CLXII. A.D. 1745. Edinburgh. knowledge of the Greek language, which was and is shamefully neglected at most Scotch grammar schools. In his fourteenth year, Wedderburn was removed to the At the uni- University of Edinburgh. The rebellion of 1745 had susversity of pended the scholastic pursuits of this learned body, Prince Charles being for a considerable time in possession of the city, while the Castle stood out for King George, and the professors, according to their inclinations, actively assisting the opposite sides. * But after the battle of Culloden lectures were resumed, and the studies of the place proceeded as peaceably as if a highland claymore had never been brandished in the Canongate, nor a cannon shot boomed from the battlements of the Castle. At this juncture, young Wedderburn began his academical career. He was matriculated on the 18th of March, 1746. Our young collegian had no taste for mathematics, which Maclaurin had at this time rendered rather popular in Scotland; nor did he even show much of the metaphysical turn for which his countrymen were beginning to be distinguished; but he devoted himself sedulously to classics, political science, and modern belles-lettres. The university could not yet boast of such instructors as Robertson, Blair, Munro, Black, and Dugald Stewart; but a general ardour for study prevailed, and the development of genius, which soon after displayed itself, was quietly advancing. I have not been able to obtain any particulars of young Wedderburn's demeanour in the "Humanity Class," with which he began, or in any of the others during the "philosophy curriculum." The degrees of B. A. and M. A. had then fallen into desuetude at Edinburgh, and there were no public examinations or honours to excite emulation, or to reward proficiency. But much Sacred as well as civil functions gave way to arms; and Dr. Robertson, the historian, then minister of Gladsmuir, carried a musket as a private in the Edinburgh Volunteers. Such a proceeding, sanctioned by many precedents in the Old Testament, gives no offence to pious Presbyterians. I remember, when a French invasion was expected, my father, the Rev. Dr. George Campbell, one of the most venerated of the clergy of the Church of Scotland, while he preached with unction every Sabbath day, on week days was drilled in the ranks of the Cupar Volunteers. |