his dancing, was "no lawyer;" and for saying that Lord Bacon, the greatest philosopher, and one of the finest writers his country ever produced, was justly liable to the charges of taking bribes from suitors on whose causes he was to adjudicate,-of inflicting torture on a poor parson whom he wished to hang as a traitor for writing an unpublished and unpreached sermon,—and of laboring to blacken the memory of the young and chivalrous Earl of Essex, from whom he had received such signal favors.

But, at all hazards, in relating actions and in drawing characters, I shall still strive to discriminate between what is deserving of praise and of censure.

I add, with perfect sincerity,

-hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim.

If my own humble career should ever become the subject of biographical criticism,-with what measure I mete, be it measured to me again. And this I say not in arrogance or selfconfidence, but deeply conscious of deficiencies which may be imputed to me, and of errors into which I have fallen,—yet hoping that the slender merit may be allowed me of having attempted well.

I beg leave to call in aid the admirable justification of the discriminating and impartial biographer by my friend Sir Francis Palgrave: "He is in no wise responsible for the defects of his personages, still less is their vindication obligatory upon him. This conventional etiquette of extenuation mars the utility of historical biography by concealing the compensations so mercifully granted in love, and the admonitions given by vengeance. Why suppress the lesson afforded by the depravity of the 'greatest, brightest, meanest of mankind;' he whose defilements teach us that the most transcendent intellectuality is consistent with the deepest turpitude? The labors of the panegyrists come after

all to naught. You are trying to fill a broken cistern. You may cut a hole in the stuff, but you cannot wash out the stain."1

Before concluding, I must renew the notice by which I have derived many favors both from strangers and from friends,-"I shall be most grateful to all who will point out omissions to be supplied, or mistakes to be corrected."

I have only further to express my satisfaction in thinking that a heavy weight is now to be removed from my conscience. So essential did I consider an Index to be to every book, that I proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive an author who publishes a book without an Index of the privilege of copyright; and, moreover, to subject him, for his offence, to a pecuniary penalty. Yet, from difficulties started by my printers, my own books have hitherto been without an Index. But I am happy to announce that a learned friend at the bar, on whose accuracy I can place entire reliance, has kindly prepared a copious Index, which will be appended to this work, and another for the new stereotyped edition of the LIVES OF THE CHAN

CELLORS.

STRATHEDEN HOUSE,

April 6, 1857.

Hist. of Norm. and Eng., b. ii. p. 67.

1*

CONTENTS

OF

THE THIRD VOLUME.

CHAPTER XLI.

LIFE OF LORD KENYON, FROM HIS BIRTH TILL HE WAS APPOINTED CHIEF JUSTICE

OF CHESTER.

Composition of this Memoir an unpleasant task for the biographer, Page 17.

Family of the Kenyons, 18. Birth of Lord Kenyon, 19. His defective educa-

tion, 19. He is apprenticed with an attorney, 19. His love of the desk, 19.

His attempt to rival the Welsh bards, 20. His disappointment in not being

taken into partnership with his master, 21. He is admitted a student at the

Middle Temple, 21. His misfortune in not being required to be initiated in

liberal studies, 21. His exclusive attention to law, 22. His dislike of the

theatre, 22. He writes reports of decisions of the Courts, 22. He is acquainted

with Horne Tooke and Dunning, 23. His economical mode of dining, 23. He

is called to the bar, 23. His slow progress, 23. He fags for Dunning, 24. He

becomes a great case-answerer, 24. His merits as a draughtsman, 24. He

fags for Lord Chancellor Thurlow, 25. He is made Chief Justice of Chester, 25.

CHAPTER XLII.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD KENYON TILL HE WAS APPOINTED MASTER

OF THE ROLLS.

He is introduced into Parliament, 27. His impatience to meet a charge of bribery,

27. He is counsel for the defendants in the prosecution for deposing Lord

Pigot, 27. How he came to be counsel with Erskine for Lord George Gordon,

28. His successful cross-examination of a witness, 29. His miserable speech

to the jury, 29. Peril to the prisoner, 31. Glory of Erskine, 31. Kenyon

Attorney-General to the Rockingham Administration, 31. His altercation with

Sir James Mansfield, 32. His zeal against public accountants explained, 33.

He adheres to Lord Shelburne, 35. He is turned out by the "Coalition," 35.

His parliamentary conduct while in opposition, 35. Dismissal of the "Coali-

tion Ministry," 37. Kenyon again Attorney-General, 37. He renews his

attack on public accountants, 37. His conduct, as Chief Justice of Chester, in

the Dean of St. Asaph's case, 38.

CHAPTER XLIII.

CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD KENYON TILL HE WAS APPOINTED CHIEF

JUSTICE OF THE KING'S BENCH.

Kenyon is made Master of the Rolls, 40. His vote in the Westminster election,

41. The bad advice he gave respecting the "Scrutiny," 41. Honorable conduct

of Lord Eldon on this occasion, 41. Mr. Fox's censure of the Master of the

Rolls, 42. Kenyon is made a Baronet, 43. Sir Lloyd Kenyon and Rolliad, 43.

Letter from Sir Lloyd Kenyon to the High Bailiff of Westminster, 44. Kenyon

as an Equity Judge, 46. Q. How far a covenant to refer to arbitration may be

pleaded in bar to a suit or action? 48. Sir Lloyd Kenyon's merits as an Equity

Judge, 49. Resignation of Lord Mansfield, 49. Sir Lloyd Kenyon appointed

his successor, and raised to the peerage, 50.

CHAPTER XLIV.

LORD KENYON AS CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE KING'S BENCH.

Unpopularity of the appointment, 51. Lord Kenyon takes his seat in the House

of Lords, 51. His speech on the insanity of George III., 52. He maintains

that Mr. Hastings's impeachment had abated by the dissolution of Parliament,

53. He opposes Mr. Fox's Libel Bill, 54. Questions proposed by him for the

opinion of the Judges, 55. Lord Stanhope's speech to banter Lord Kenyon, 55.

Lord Kenyon's answer, 55. Charge that he made a pecuniary profit by the

abuses in the King's Bench Prison, 56. Lord Kenyon's improved tactics in self-

defence, 57. His judicial character, 57. His Latin quotations, 58. His bad

temper, 58. Account of his demeanor in Court by Espinasse, 58. His partiali-

ties and antipathies, 59. George III.'s congratulation to him on the loss of

his temper, 60. His anxiety for the rights of the "legal estate," 60. His de-

cision that no action at law can be maintained for a legacy, 60. Rule that a

married woman shall never be permitted to sue or to be sued as a single woman,

61. His behavior on the trial of Rex v. Stockdale, 61. His severe sentences

in prosecutions for alleged sedition, 62. Pasquinade against imprisonment

for debt, 63. John Frost's case, 63. Rex v. Perry, 63. Perversion of the

clause in the Libel Bill enabling the Judge to give his opinion to the Jury on

matter of Law, 64. Stone is tried for treason before Lord Kenyon, 65. Trial

of John Reeve for a libel on the House of Commons, 66. Trial of Gilbert

Wakefield, 67. Trial of the proprietor of the Courier for a libel on the Empe-

ror Paul, 69. Trial of Williams for publishing Paine's Age of Reason, 69.

Lord Kenyon's display of his knowledge of ecclesiastical history, 69. Trial of

Hadfield, when the biographer first saw Lord Kenyon, 70. Proof of the

prisoner's insanity, 71. Lord Kenyon interferes and puts an end to the trial,

71. Sound view of the question how far mental disease exempts from criminal

responsibility, 71. Benjamin Flower's case, 72. Dialogue between Mr. Clif-

ford and Lord Kenyon on moving for a writ of Habeas Corpus, 73. Lord

Kenyon's attack on Lord-Treasurer Clifford and the ancient nobility, 73. Mr.

Clifford's retaliation, 74. Lord Kenyon laid down the true constitutional doc-

trine since affirmed by Act of Parliament respecting the power of the two

Houses to print and publish, 75. Rex v. Earl of Abingdon: Peer not privileged

to publish speech delivered by him in the House of Peers, with a view to libel

an individual, 76. Doctrine of consequential damage, 77. Rescue of the

public from the Surveyors, 77. Lord Kenyon's laudable zeal against manu-

facturers of slander, 78. Misled by his love for morality, 79. Lord Eldon's

protest against Lord Kenyon's ultraism, 80. Lord Kenyon's indignation at

being called a "legal monk," 80. By his hot temper, betrayed into the tolera-