LORD ELDON. 109 



known to weep frequently during an address. Still there is a force 

 and elegance in his harangues, if so they may be called, both in par- 

 liament and at the bar, which, even at an early period of his career, 

 seldom failed to excite considerable interest. 



During the periods that his lordship held the seals, the complaints 

 against him for delays in the Court of Chancery and House of Lords, 

 were both loud and frequent. Had his lordship become incarnated 

 with the spirit of delay, and all its attendant mischiefs, he could not 

 have afforded greater scope for complaint. The newspapers and re- 

 views denounced his procrastinating propensity motion after motion 

 was made in the House of Commons upon the subject long, inte- 

 resting, and warm debates took place for several successive sessions 

 committees were appointed, but his lordship continued his course 

 unaltered ; and, up to the moment of his retiring from his functions, 

 the arrears, both in Chancery and the Lords, had most frightfully ac- 

 cumulated. In the speech on the Regency bill, which we have be- 

 fore alluded to, there is the following remarkable maxim : " We 

 should not consider what the law ought to be, but what it is." This 

 position his lordship appears to have maintained throughout his judi- 

 cial career, and to have cherished with almost paternal fondness. 

 Looking, therefore, at his conduct through life, both political an(J 

 judicial marking his fixed opposition to .all improvements in legisla- 

 tion, and, after a careful perusal and deliberate study of the general 

 character of his decisions, we cannot but be forcibly struck with the 

 similitude which they bear to his favourite sentiment. A love of re- 

 ference, anxiety for parallel cases, veneration for former decisions, 

 an inclination to pause, and a determination to shut out the light of 

 own mind, could not but involve him in doubts and difficulties. 

 These invariably became increased as the old books multiplied, until 

 his lordship was not only perplexed, but too frequently bewildered. 

 It would only be a work of supererogation to discant upon the in- 

 jury, misfortune, and misery of the unhappy suitors the fortunes 

 expended, the harvest of lawyers, the poverty of clients all is too 

 familiar to require comment, too well known to need more than a 

 passing remark. Upon this portion of his lordship's career we shall 

 not bestow those censures and animadversions, or, more properly 

 speaking, register those that have been so deservedly showered upon 

 him, but simply, and we think forcibly, merely point to the Hercu- 

 lean labours of Lord Brougham. 



Before we close, we may as well say a few words upon a subject 

 that cannot well be allowed to remain without remark. There has 

 been much \vhispered, to use the mildest phrase, concerning an 

 avaricious propensity entertained by both Lord and Lady Eldon. 

 Indeed, such a charge has not been confined to the insinuations of a 

 few ; for the vehicles of public information have teemed with asser- 

 tions derogatory to their character for generosity and benevolence. 

 That many of the statements so published were facts, there can be no 

 doubt; but it is equally true, that several were destitute of even the 

 slightest foundation. To justify a want of true nobleness, and to 

 advocate parsimony, is by no means our intention: but there are 

 excuses which can very prudently be made ; and such allowances will 



