MEMOIR OF BRYAN HOLME, ESQ. THE life of a lawyer, though engaged in the higher branch of the profession, rarely affords more than a few materials for the pen of the biographer, unless the subject of the memoir should have passed from the professional to the political, from the province of the forum to that of the senate. It may, indeed, be that, like an Erskine, Lyndhurst, Brougham, or Truro, the successful advocate may be retained in important public trials, or causes of great commercial, social, or domestic interest, and thus his natural talent, his laborious attainments, his energy, skill, perseverance, and eloquence may furnish themes for interesting description and critical comments. Advocates who have distinguished themselves in the usual routine of professional business before both judges and jury, and have been selected by the Prime Minister for the several offices of Attorney and Solicitor General, and finally for the chief seats on the Bench, become objects of historical consideration; and their early struggles, their successful exertions, and the several stages of their progress, furnish topics for the graphic power of the most eminent biographers, as we have seen in our own day. But to such high distinction the vast majority of our learned friends at the Bar cannot aspire. Their names, indeed, may be familiar to the numerous class of law reporters, their acuteness as special pleaders, and their tact and skill may be esteemed by their clients, the attorneys; but they soar not into the regions of public fame and celebrity.

If such be the case with the advocate who lives and moves in open Court in the presence of a numerous Bar, a large part of the public, and the general body of attorneys, what shall we say when we come to descant on the second branch of the profession, and view the ordinary career of a Solicitor? However eminent in character, or extensively engaged in practice, his professional life is marked with still fewer events and incidents requiring to be recorded for the information of his brethren, or the gratification of his family connections or personal friends.

This, however, may be remarked, that although the attorney pursues "the noiseless tenor of his way," his vocation is often as interesting, both to the feelings and the intellect, VOL. LII. No. 1,485.

as that of the highest branches of any profession, or those who are engaged in affairs that concern the public welfare. An eminent attorney holds a position as highly confidential as that of a clergyman or a physician. He is called upon to advise the noblest in the land; to consider not only their immediate personal interests, but the interests of their families; to provide against the folly and extravagance both of youth and age; to repair the neglect of the careless, and to preserve the honour and possessions of ancient families. But the facts and circumstances connected with these interesting, important, and complicated transactions, can never be disclosed; they are strictly private, and are never hinted even to the most confidential or intimate relation or friend. The secrets of clients are as sacred to the solicitor as the confessions of the penitent to the pastor or the priest. Neither can the correspondence, which forms a large part of the memoirs of a public man, be consulted in recording the incidents of the life of an attorney. The client relies in undoubting confidence that his communications to his solicitor, and the letters he receives from him, are hermetically sealed from observation or disclosure.

We will not undertake to say whether Mr. Warren and Mr. Dickens have accurately described the several grades of the legal profession-whether, on the one hand, Mr. Runnington and Mr. Tulkinghorn are the true types of the highest class of solicitors—or, on the other, whether Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap and Messrs. Dodson and Fogg faithfully represent the opposite class of practitioners. These imaginary characters are ingeniously introduced to work out the scenes in which they appear, and sufficiently illustrate the services which can be performed by no other than the able and confidential "family solicitor" in the one case, or the "sharp practitioner" in the other. Scant justice is done by these and other authors to the integrity and honour, the sagacity, firmness, and unwearied labours of the attorney and solicitor.

Consider for a moment the vast power for good or ill which is unavoidably placed in the hands of an attorney. Say that he has a complicated family arrangement to effect, conflicting interests to adjust; to make good past misfortune, and provide for the present and

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to the inns of court on business, they will, by the proposed plan, be enabled, at the same time, to meet other solicitors with whom they may have business to transact, instead of going to their offices, often at a considerable distance, and always at the risk of not meeting with them at home. It will also enable a solicitor who has occasion to attend the courts, the

judges' chambers, the master's offices, consultations of counsel, or other appointments in the neighbourhood, to pass his time here, both usefully and agreeably, until his attendance becomes necessary.

ing conscientiously performed his duty; but he acquires no fame, like the successful advo

cate. The difficulties he has overcome, and the means by which he has achieved success, must remain unknown, for perchance the disclosure would reflect no credit on the actions or motives of his client.

We have felt justified in thus dwelling upon the general character and conduct of solicitors, and particularly of those engaged in extensive and respectable practice, because the subject of our memoir belonged to that class, and the present appeared to afford a favourable opportunity for rendering some measure of justice to its merits and integrity.

We may observe, also, that it is rarely the good fortune of the members of any profession to distinguish themselves by conferring great and permanent advantages on the general body to which they belong. Men of enormous wealth may, without inconvenience and without labour, make munificent gifts or bequests, and justly receive high honours for their generosity; but those who devote a large portion of their busy lives to devising and carrying into effect important plans of improvement for the lasting benefit of their profession, are entitled to a still higher place in the general esteem of their brethren.

To this distinction the late Mr. Bryan Holme has an undoubted claim. He it was who first projected "The Law Institution;" and being at the head of the long-established and eminent firm of Holme, Frampton, and Loftus, his personal influence and popular

manners enabled him soon to associate a con

siderable number of subscribers in support of his plan. The first prospectus set forth,

amongst other inducements, the following:

"To those members of the profession who are old enough to remember the time when the attorneys resident in the city, and distant parts of the town, used to frequent Peele's, Joe's, Brown's, Symond's Inn, and other coffee-houses in the neighbourhood of the inns of court, in the evenings, for the purposes of business, the utility of the present plan will at once be obvious; but to the younger branches of the profession, who have not had the benefit of that experience, it may be proper to point out a few of the leading advantages that will result from it.

"As most solicitors have daily occasion to resort

"It will also induce articled clerks, by honourable

conduct during their clerkships, to render themselves

worthy of becoming members, and of participating in the advantages of the institution when they be come attorneys."

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It was proposed to raise a fund in shares of in Chancery-lane, with a library, club room, £25 each, and erect an Attorney's Hall and offices. The prospectus comprised estimates and various suggestions for carrying the plan into effect, showing that all the details had been well considered and judiciously arranged.

We have seen a collection of the several time to time issued until a sufficient number editions of the prospectus, which were from of subscribers was obtained. In March, 1825, House, and a committee appointed to settle a a meeting was convened at Serle's Coffee plan to be submitted to a general meeting which was convened for the 2nd June in Furnival's Inn Hall. The society, under the formed, a committee of management appointed, name of "The Law Institution," was then and measures adopted for raising the necessary funds.

fession contributed no less than £500 each, Some of the leading members of the proand so on down to £25. A deed of settlement a considerable number £250, others £100, was executed in 1827, the first and largest portion of land was purchased in 1828 from Mr. Jervis, Q.C. (the father of the present in 1831, and the building was opened in 1832. Chief Justice), a royal charter was obtained blished on subjects of common law, equity, In 1833, three courses of lectures were estaand conveyancing; in 1836, the examination of articled clerks was instituted, at the sugges tion of the society, and the examiners selected by the judges from the committee of manage

ment.

In 1843 was passed the Attorneys' and Solicitors' Act, under which the society was appointed Registrar of Attorneys.† In 1845 a new charter was granted on the relin

The society is indebted to Mr. Tooke for obtaining the charter, when Lord Brougham was Chancellor, and Sir Thomas (afterwards Lord) Denman was Attorney-General. + This act was prepared by the committee under the directions of the late Lord Langdale.

quishment of the shares in the property of the society, the constitution of which as a joint stock company was merged into one of a collegiate character, called "The Incorporated Law Society," consisting of a president, vicepresident, council, and members, admitted on payment of a fee formerly of £15 and now of £5. Each member of the Law Institution surrendered a share as his qualification, about two-thirds of the members presented the society with their extra shares, and the rest were purchased. So that now there is no private or individual interest in the property of the corporate body.

About twenty years ago a subscription was made by the members of the society for the purpose of providing a whole length portrait of Mr. Holme, and an admirable likeness was painted by Mr. Pickersgill, R.A., and placed at one end of the hall of the society; and opposite to him is a portrait, by the same eminent artist, of Lord Chancellor Truro, who, in the early years of his professional life, practised as an attorney in the City of London.

Having thus narrated this distinguished event in Mr. Holme's life, we proceed to notice what may be termed his professional antecedents. There is considerable interest attached to the history, as it were, of many of the well-known firms in London, the pedigrees of some of which stretch back 150 years. The earliest notices we have of Mr. Holme's predecessors are as follows:

*

The first firm appears to have been that of Heaton and Venables, of Hatton-court, Threadneedle-street; afterwards Venables, Buggin, and Bleasdale; then Bleasdale and Alexander; then Bleasdale, Alexander, and Holme; then Bleasdale, Lowless, and Crosse. Mr. Venables retired in 1792, and received an annuity from the business, and went to live at Wood-hill, near Oswestry, in Shropshire, where he died in January, 1813. His eldest son is a provincial barrister at Liverpool, and another son an archdeacon. Mr. Buggin, being a man of fortune, retired from business in the year 1796, and was knighted.† Mr. Bleasdale died in November, 1831, at Tatham, a parish twelve miles beyond Lancaster. Mr. Alexander died in 1823, at Axminster, where he was buried.

Messrs. Bleasdale, Alexander, and Holme had two offices, one in Hatton-court, already mentioned, where Mr. Bleasdale officiated, and one in New Inn, where Mr. Alexander and Mr. Holme attended. In 1816, Mr. Bleasdale wishing to retire, it was agreed that he should take the City business to himself. Messrs. Lowless and Crosse joined him in

Mr. Venables was previously of Lincoln's-inn. Sir George Buggin married a relative of Sir George Tapps, which was the occasion of his being knighted. On her death, Sir George Buggin married Lady Cecilia Gore, daughter of the Earl of Arran, and had a house in Great Cumberlandplace, and another at Tonbridge Wells. He died in April, 1825. Her ladyship was afterwards privately married to the Duke of Sussex, and subsequently created Duchess of Inverness during Lord Melbourne's administration.

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partnership, and he withdrew two or three years afterwards. Messrs. Alexander and Holme continued in New Inn until 1821, when the former retired, and Mr. Frampton and Mr. Loftus became partners, the firm being then Holme, Frampton, and Loftus; and on Mr. Frampton's death, in 1836, Mr. Young joined the firm.

We must now advert to the more personal history of Mr. Holme. He was baptised on the 29th December, 1776, at Tunstal, in Lancashire, and was descended from an old and respectable family, his father being a landed proprietor of some extent. He is described in the parish register as the son of William and Elizabeth Holme, of Thurland Castle; he was educated in the neighbouring town of Wray. He entered the profession of the law in 1793, about which year he was articled to Mr. John Baldwin, a solicitor at Lancaster. There his active and intelligent mind rapidly acquired a knowledge of the general principles of the law, and of many of the details of professional practice. He was admitted on the Roll in Hilary Term, 1800, and it would seem that he intended to practise at Lancaster, for he obtained the usual commissions from the superior courts of law for taking affidavits in Lancashire and the neighbouring counties, dated the 31st August, 1802, in which he is described as of Lancaster. Soon after this time he proceeded to the metropolis, where so many of our northern brethren have attained distinction. He was admitted into the office of Messrs. Bleasdale and Alexander. By that energetic application to business for which he was always remarkable, he soon mastered the technicalities of practice, and the forms of procedure in the courts, and particularly the department of Chancery, in which he took his station for several years as one of the managing clerks of Messrs. Bleasdale and Alexander, who ranked in the first class of agency offices. He became a partner in the firm in the year 1806. His perseverance and talent had here ample scope, and he became one of the ablest practitioners of his time, and highly esteemed by all his professional brethren. In those days, the hours of attendance at an attorney's office were much longer than of late. Business commenced at 9 o'clock, and, with the interval of the dinner time from 4 to 6, generally continued till 9 at night. Indeed, a large part of the business of the law was done in the evening. The Rolls Court sat from 6 o'clock till 10. A judge of each of the three common law courts sat in chambers in Serjeant's Inn at half-past 6, to hear summonses on questions of practice and pleading, and generally remained till 9 o'clock. The active partner of a firm like Bleasdale, Alexander, and Holme, was sure to be at his post, and the discipline of the office was kept up in full efficiency. Mr. Holme was married at St. George's, Bloomsbury, on the 31st August, 1807, to Miss Anne Simpson, one of the

"When I feel convinced that I am right I never give up my opinion, although I am frequently obliged to submit and give way in deference to others, but not from conviction. That is to say, I am very obstinate, and would rather make a great sacrifice than give up an opinion upon which I thought and felt to be right. I hate everything but facts-res non verba. I cannot endure metaphysical subjects which lead to no certain results. I think I should have liked mathematics by reason of their certainty, but I regret that I know nothing of them; and am dull at figures, although with labour I can master them." Mr. De Ville assigned to the subject of our memoir a high sense of honour and justice. On which the following observation is made:

"As to the first part of this, I don't know what to say to it, for human nature is so imperfect that there may be a high sense of honour and justice in some things but not in others. With regard to my profession, I hope I possess it to a proper extent; and when attacked on this point I certainly am most indignant, violent, and unforgiving."

The next favourable point was the possession of warm friendship; and Mr. Holme admitted that

"This is certainly true. I would go to the world's end to serve a man if he took my fancy; but I am cautious and fastidious in forming friendships, and unless a person pleases me I am shy, indifferent, cold, and I keep aloof."

We are next told that he was indifferent to property, further than its use. Here, also, there is a candid admission of accuracy:

"This is true to a fault. I care nothing for property beyond my own few wants, and as a means of doing a kind thing now and then. I wish a Rundell or a Jemmy Wood would make me residuary legatee. I would be a most generous distributor."

Mr. Holme is then described as sensitive to approbation but not stooping to seek popularity. And he says: :

"I do not feel this to be true. On the contrary, I never sought for approbation in my life, but have studiously avoided coming in contact with any public manifestation of it, and the apprehension of it almost deters me from risking the encounter of it, and so strong is this feeling with me that it makes me very uneasy and uncomfortable for some time previously to any occasion when it is likely to be shewn; and I would most willingly absent myself if a sense of public duty did not prevail over my reluctance. I am content with the approbation of my own conscience if I happen to accomplish any object deserving praise."

The next note is thus expressed-he was by no means bigotted. And the remark is—

"This is very true: I care very little about a man's faith provided it produces works.

He is described as liable to strong anger if offended, but not unrelenting. And we are told

"This is true. My anger and resentment are strong, and I am very unrelenting and unforgiving, but I do not seek for revenge. When a person offends

me I avoid all communication with him ever afterwards, and endeavour to wipe him entirely out of recollection, and to forget that he exists."

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On the other hand, he is characterised as kind and benevolent to a fault. And we have the following confession :

"I don't know what to say to this-it is too complimentary. To those who take my fancy, I would be unbounded in my kindness; to those who do not exactly suit me, I entertain no ill will, and leave them to the enjoyment of what they possess in their own way without envying them. The only feeling which I have when I see people living in riot and luxury is a regret that I do not possess the same means, as I think I could apply them much better."

Such are the candid acknowledgments made by our deceased friend; and we think they tend to confirm the favourable estimate which has been formed of his character.

NEW STATUTES EFFECTING ALTERATIONS IN THE LAW.

COUNTY COURTS ACTS AMENDMENT.
19 & 20 Vict. c. 108.

[Concluded from page 272].

51. In any such plaint against a tenant as in the last preceding section is specified the Plaintiff may add a claim for rent or mesne profits, or both, down to the day appointed for the hearing, or to any preceding day named in the plaint, so as the same shall not exceed fifty pounds, and any misdescription in the nature of such claim may be amended at the trial.

52. When the rent of any corporeal hereditament, where neither the value of the premises nor the rent payable thereof exceeds fifty pounds by the year, shall for one half year be in arrear, and the landlord shall have right by law to re-enter for the nonpayment thereof, he may, without any formal demand or re-entry, enter a plaint in the county court of the district in which the premises lie for the recovery of the premises, and thereupon a summons shall issue to the tenant, the service whereof shall stand in lieu of a demand and re-entry; and if the tenant shall five clear days before the return day of such summons pay into court all the rent in arrear, and the costs, the said action shall cease, but if he shall not make such payment, and shall not at the time named in the summons show good cause why the premises should not be recovered, then, on proof of the yearly value and rent of the premises, and of the fact that one half year's rent was in arrear before the plaint was entered, and that no sufficient distress was then to be found on the premises to countervail such arrear, and of the landlord's power to re-enter, and of the rent being still in arrear, and of the title of the plaintiff if such title has accrued since the letting of the premises, and of the service of the summons if the defendant shall not appear thereto, the judge may order that possession of the premises mentioned tiff on or before such day, not being less than four in the plaint be given by the defendant to the plainweeks from the day of hearing, as the judge shall think fit to name, unless within that period all the rent in arrear and the costs be paid into court; and if such order be not obeyed, and such rent and costs be not so paid, the registrar shall, whether such order can be proved to have been served or not, at the instance of the plaintiff, issue a warrant authorising and requiring the high bailiff of the court to