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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE EARL OF ELDON. 



THERE is no branch of literature containing so many difficulties as 

 biography. It is by no means an easy task to be impartial, particu- 

 larly if the writer has selected, for his memoir, one, who through a 

 long and eventful life, has been the staunch supporter, the almost 

 leader of a fallen though once powerful party. A stream does not 

 take its colour more from the hue of the soil through which it runs, 

 than does the statement of a writer from his own cast of mind, passions, 

 and prejudices. This is doubly true when applied to the biographer, 

 and, therefore, his partiality is more frequently a subject for invective 

 and condemnation, than in common candour and fair honesty, we 

 justly conceive that his predelictions, or the contrary, demand from 

 the reader. With this simple and brief avowal, we shall proceed at 

 once to sketch the history of a man who has filled, for nearly a quarter 

 of a century, the highest judicial station in the country ; whose legal 

 life is so intimately woven with a mass of jurisprudence, and who, 

 during a long and interesting period, exercised a powerful influence 

 in those cabinets, which, for such a length of time, so unworthily and 

 shamefully weilded the energies, and ruled the destinies of this mighty 

 nation. Intrusted with such power, his character, of right, becomes 

 the property of mankind. It is their province to inquire into his 

 acts, to trace his public, and mark his private life, and to submit 

 both to free discussion and unreserved examination. 



We have been taught, from the highest authority, that from those 

 to whom much have been given, much will be required. We will 

 take this test and apply it to the subject of our article, and leave the 

 reader to ascertain whether, in the account of the stewardship, he will 

 not find a sad and woful deficiency. 



His Lordship was born at Newcastle, in the year 1749. His father 

 had been a domestic in the family of the Earl of Strathome, but 

 having been a prudent man, he so judiciously managed his pecuniary 

 affairs, as to create a moderate fund from his wages, which enabled 

 him to be, at the period of his son's birth, in possession of a thriving 

 business as a coal merchant. John Scott and his brother received 

 their elementary education in their native town, and thence they were 

 removed to the University of Oxford. It is naturally to be supposed, 

 that though the father was rather fortunate in his dealings, yet from 

 his station in life, it was impossible for him to be very lavish in his 

 expenditure upon his sons. In fact, it was out of the question, and 

 the lads, therefore, adopted a plan calculated to lessen the burthen 

 upon their father, and, at the same time, render themselves compara- 

 tively comfortable. William gave lectures, but his brother received 

 many a consideration, in good substantial forms, for having rendered 

 collegiate assistance to several of his more wealthy, but indolent, or less 

 gifted fellow students.* In Hilary Term, 1772, John Scott became a 



* In 1771, he gained the Chancellor's Prize, for his " Essay on the Advantages 

 and Disadvantages of Foreign Travels.'* 



