parents that Sir S. Romilly, "who is now supposed to make 15,000l. a year, was for many years little thought of, and was in great difficulties" (vol. i. p. 283.); and all this time there is no evidence that his friends grudged him the necessary supplies.

But the whole of these letters show a very nice sense of honour in all money matters, and an almost morbid scrupulosity as to accepting favours1 even from relations, still more from others. Mr. Hardy prints a letter from Sir F. Burdett honourable to both parties, begging Bickersteth to allow the former "to become your banker to a certain extent, say 5007., the whole of which, or any part you might draw for whenever occasion made it desirable, and replace it at your own convenience." (Vol. i. p. 286.)

Prospects, however, began a little to brighten:

"It would be untrue," he says, in Oct. 1814, "to say either that my success has hitherto been bad, or that it is likely my profession will enable me to maintain myself immediately. I have sufficient encouragement to persevere, and yet I have great reason to be uneasy."

In May 17. 1815, he says:

"I am well in health, and my business perhaps advances, and certainly does not go back. It does not occupy my time, but I continue to live in the old way, almost entirely alone, which has become so much an agreeable habit that I could be almost content to be shut up among my books for ever without paying any regard to the buzz of the world around me."

On the 15th of January, 1814, Mr. Bickersteth was elected into a senior fellowship of his college; and here he showed a truly honourable and conscientious feeling, as to which we shall give an extract from his diary :

"I always understood that the four Senior Fellows had some peculiar benefit from the perse foundation; and as I approached

Acting in this spirit, he would not ask any body for any thing, and left Mr. Sanders, his secretary, almost entirely unprovided for. We do not think this sort of scrupulosity was justifiable, although it is quite consistent with the other points of Lord Langdale's character.

Seniority, hints were frequently given to me of the advantages I should have when I became one of the four Seniors. All this seemed a mere matter of course, and I thought nothing of the intimated advantages, but that if I remained in College I should at length receive some increase of stipend to the amount of sixty pounds a-year, without thinking that there was or could be any doubt of my right. I rarely attended College Meetings; and when I did so, ran down to Cambridge, and concurred in what passed upon the information I then received, and in the reliance that what they proposed was for the general benefit. In 1825, at a Meeting of the Master and Seniors, it was proposed to increase their stipends. I asked if it was clear that we were entitled to do So. I was told it was; and without looking at any document, I concurred in the vote of increase." (Vol. i. p. 288.)

But when he became a Senior Fellow, and had for some time as such received the increased amount, he did look into the documents; and finding that he had no right to it, he not only adjusted a new scale of allowance, but returned all that he had received. The sequel of the story is, that the Court of Chancery compelled the other Fellows to do the like; and the Judge who made the decree was the identical Fellow who had thus nobly acted. He at first declined to hear the cause, but at length consented to do so at the request of both parties.

It was at this period of Bickersteth's life that he began seriously to devote himself to the consideration of the Reform of the Law. To use the words of Mr. Hardy, he became "the pupil, friend, and follower of Jeremy Bentham; and after a twenty years' knowledge of his principles and exertions, Bentham declared that Bickersteth was, of all his friends, the most cordial to Law Reform to its utmost extent '" (vol. i. p. 320.); and at p. 330., a letter from the veritable Jeremy to Bickersteth is printed, beginning "Right well beloved, and my singular good disciple," inviting him to try his hand upon a History of Whiggism. Under these circumstances, he took a part from this time in most of the proceedings on Law Reform, and became a kind of oracle on the subject.

Mr. Hardy thus notices the position of that question about this time:

"At the period when Mr. Bickersteth was called to the Bar,

Lord Eldon presided over the Court of Chancery, and his indecision, his doubts, and his overcautiousness, added to the various duties he had to perform in the Cabinet, in Lincoln's Inn Hall, and on the woolsack, produced a chaos of confusion and an overwhelming arrear of business in the House of Lords and in the Court of Chancery. Hundreds of causes were remaining to be heard thousands of Suitors had abandoned proceedings, and many were ruined under grievous oppression, merely because they were unable to afford the money or the time necessary to enable them to proceed." (Vol. i. p. 349.)

Here then, certainly, Law Reform was needed, and motions on the subject of the Court of Chancery were frequent in Parliament. These ended in the appointment of a Committee of the House of Commons to inquire into the causes of the delay, and the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor; and ultimately in the issuing of the Chancery Commission. Before this Commission Mr. Bickersteth was examined. Of this evidence he says himself:

"My evidence was given under the full persuasion that it would be offensive to the Judges and to the Attorneys, and to me in every way prejudicial. I certainly exaggerated nothing; but at the first I heard of nothing but my wild and visionary schemes.

"After a lapse of some time the case was very different. There were persons who thought that the evidence displayed an extensive and familiar knowledge of the subject of inquiry and of the practice of the Courts. After its publication I received many marks of attention and respect from strangers who had read it; and when reform of the Court of Chancery was talked of, I found I had become a sort of authority, and inquiries what I thought on the subject were very frequent." (Vol. i. p. 357.)

The evidence was also highly commended by Bentham, who showed it to Mr. Mill and Mr. Coulson.

On the presentation of the Report and evidence, the Government was obliged to take some steps; and Sir John Copley, then Attorney-General, was instructed to prepare a Bill to reform the Court of Chancery; and he immediately applied to Mr. Bickersteth, who expressed his willingness to assist him. This was in the spring of 1826; and in the autumn of that year Sir John Copley was made Master of the

Rolls, in the room of Lord Gifford, and soon afterwards Lord Chancellor.

Bickersteth, with some reluctance, applied to him for a silk gown, and received next day a favourable reply from Lord Lyndhurst; and in May, 1827, Mr. Bickersteth was made King's Counsel. After some interval, he confined his practice to the Rolls' Court.

He still continued, however, his devotion to Law Reform, and earnestly supported the establishment of the "Jurist,” a quarterly publication, which commenced in 1827. This was the first publication which represented the science of Jurisprudence. "The idea," says Mr. Hardy, "of producing a work which should investigate and explain the true principle of legislation and the philosophy of the Law, arose with Mr. Bickersteth and Mr. Joseph Parkes." The latter undertook to draw up the prospectus for the work, and afterwards to be the editor of it until some competent person could be found whose time was not so much occupied as his own; and Mr. Bickersteth, whose engagements prevented him from assisting Mr. Parkes with his pen, contributed 500l. to set it going. This was certainly a handsome and effective contribution to the cause, and altogether the most striking proof that Lord Langdale ever gave of his sincerity in this behalf. The first number of the "Jurist" appeared in March, 1827, and Mr. Roscoe was appointed its editor. He continued to act as such until his engagements and failing health prevented him from attending to the work, and it was deemed advisable to discontinue the publication, and start a new one on an extended scale. Mr. Edwin Chadwick, whose writings on Penal Laws and on a Preventive Police had lately attracted much attention, was applied to by Mr. Bickersteth to conduct the proposed new series; and arrangements were made to enable him to do so chiefly at Mr. Bickersteth's expense. This new series was to have been started with the support of the late Mr. James Mill, Mr. John Stuart Mill, the late Mr. Sutton Sharpe, and Mr. Bickersteth, as contributors and active supporters. The work, however, was not proceeded with on account of Mr. Chadwick's engagements on the Poor Law Commission.

Mr. Chadwick says, in a letter to Mr. Hardy, "Whilst Mr. Bickersteth had great zeal for the Reform of the Law, he had a deep impression of the labour which it required to reform it successfully; to do which it must be advanced as a science. In this view for its advancement as a science, it required undivided attention, and an amount of concentrated labour inconsistent with its practice as an advocate, or even with its administration as a judge."

In the long vacation of 1827, Mr. Bickersteth was consulted by Lord Lyndhurst as to the new orders which had been prepared by Sir John Leach', Master of the Rolls. These were issued in April, 1828; and it may properly be said, that although the reform was small, yet the first steps were then taken in that mighty reform of this Court which will ultimately swallow up the Courts of Common Law :

"Lord Lyndhurst watched the effect of these orders, and he did not seem disappointed in the discontent which was excited by them; his mind had been, in some degree, prepared for the result; and as his knowledge and experience of the Court over which he presided advanced, and as he became better acquainted with the vast complication of the subject, and the enormous extent of the private and corrupt interest adverse to all improvement, he saw there was more difficulty in effecting a reform than he had anticipated. He was forcibly struck by the enormous grievance which the suitors were suffering from delay, after their causes were ready to be heard. He saw, with deep regret, its dreadful extent; and although it was but one among many subjects of complaint, it admitted of a separate remedy, which might be adopted without disturbing any private interest, corrupt or otherwise; and the remedy he proposed consisted of two parts: the appointment of an additional Judge, and the increased efficiency of the Master of the Rolls. He brought in a Bill for that purpose in the Session of 1830; and the Speech he delivered in the House of Lords, when his proposal was made, forms an epoch in the history of the great Chancery question. For the first time the real state of the case was not attempted to be concealed; the Chancellor made a distinct

1 In his notice of Sir John Leach, Mr. Hardy is unjust to the memory of that able Judge, and inaccurate in his statements respecting him; but as Mr. Hardy does not belong to the Profession, and does not appear to have sought information in proper quarters, his statements are unimportant.