2»'i S. No 84., Aug. 8. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Ill 



Another condensed account of the Cause is to 

 be found in note E, appended to a work, Literary 

 Gleanings, by Robert Malcom, Esq., of Glasgow, 

 some years since deceased, who was bred a lawyer, 

 and a critic of acute intellect. The edition of the 

 Gleanings having been limited in circulation, the 

 book is now rarely to be met with. 



The decision come to in this case by the House 

 of Lords (if the traditionary opinions of the people 

 of the West of Scotland are of any weight) was 

 received generally with much dissatisfaction. 

 Among many on dits then current, the judgment 

 of Lord Mansfield was considered to have been 

 based on a political motive, to prevent the too 

 great influence of the House of Hamilton in the 

 country by a union of the estates of both Houses. 

 Less pure motives are alleged against the learned 

 Lord (noticed by Mr. Malcom), such as — 



" That the Peers came to a different conclusion (from 

 that of the Court of Session) is wliolly to be ascribed to 

 their being led away by the eloquence of that celebrated 

 Lord Chief Justice whose talents were as transcendent as 

 his integrity was doubtful. He pleaded the cause of the 

 Defendant with all the earnestness and zeal of a hired ad- 

 vocate, and he did so, not only in disregard of the evi- 

 dence of facts, but in defiance of established law as often 

 laid down by himself in other causes. That such a man 

 should have pursued such a course was long the subject of 

 wonder and astonishment to professional men both in 

 England and Scotland, till at length, after many dark 

 hints conveyed to the public at various intervals of time, 

 the damning fact was broadly promulgated even in the 

 House of Commons that, in this celebrated cause, the 

 ermine of justice had been stained indelibly by his Lord- 

 ship's acceptance of an enormous bribe — not less, it is said, 

 than a Hundred Thousand Pounds. This unexampled 

 instance of corruption in an English Judge was repeatedly 

 alluded to in the Speeches of the celebrated Sir Philip 

 Francis, a man of great talents and high honour, who 

 would certainly never have made such a charge had he 

 not been thoroughly satisfied of its truth. The last notice 

 taken of it by Sir Philip was in 1817, in reply to a member 

 of the House of Commons who had made an attack on the 

 character of the famous John Wilkes, and at the same 

 time had eulogised Lord Mansfield — ■♦ Never while you 

 live. Sir,' exclaimed Sir Philip indignantly, 'say a word 

 in favour of that corrupt judge. It was only the eloquence 

 of his judgment in Wilkes's case that was praised. But 

 the rule is never to praise a bad man for anything. Ke- 

 member Jack Lee's golden rule and be always abstemious 

 of praise to an enemy. Lord Mansfield was sold in the 

 Douglas Cause, and the parties are known through whom 

 the money was paid. As for Wilkes, whatever may be 

 laid to his charge, joining to run him down is joining an 

 enemy to hurt a friend.' " 



Mr. Malcom farther notices other topics too 

 long for quotation, concluding with a reference to 

 Lord Brougham's sketch of the great Chief Jus- 

 tice : 



"as tola ccelo a brilliant panegyric. He dwells with affec- 

 tionate delight on the great powers, natural and acquired, 

 possessed by the subject of his sketch : he vindicates him 

 with anxious and painful elaboration against the bitter 

 charges of the implacable Junius, but not one word has 

 he said in vindication of the Chief Justice against the far 

 mor« serious, and perhaps not less caustic charges con- 



tained in Andrew Steuart'a celebrated Letters on the 

 Douglas Cause. The silence of Lord Brougham on this 

 remarkable point, so painful to every admirer of great 

 talents, may very justly be held to be conclusive as to the 

 guilt of Lord Mansfield ," 



G.N. 



The speeches and judgments of the Lords of 

 Session in disposing of the Cause in Scotland were 

 printed at Edinburgh, in 1 vol. 8vo., and there 

 are several other printed volumes upon the same 

 subject. X. Y. 



POLITICAL ROMANCES OF THE TIME OF LOUIS XIII. 

 AND LOUIS XIY. 



(2°'i S. iii. 268.) 



Mylord Courtenay, ou les premieres Amours 

 dE'lizabeth, Reine d Angleterre, par M. le Noble, 

 12mo. pp. 317., Paris, 1697. — An ordinary histo- 

 rical novel, in which Mary and Elizabeth are 

 rivals for Lord Courtenay. M. Noble keeps 

 pretty near to the leading facts, but makes Eli- 

 zabeth beautiful, and Lord Courtenay really in 

 love with her. There may be political matter 

 bearing on later times, but I have not discovered 

 it. The following sketch of Philip of Spain is a 

 favourable specimen : 



" Au lieu que Courtenay n'avoit rien que ne fut capa- 

 ble de charmer, et de forcer le coeur le plus austere a 

 prendre d'amour, Philippe n'avoit rien en sa personne 

 qui fut capable d'en inspirer le moindre sentiment. II 

 avoit la taille mediocre, I'air embarasse, le front d'une 

 grandeur prodigieuse, les yeux petits, les Mvres grosses et 

 entr'ouvertes, le teint blanc mais pale, le menton quarr^, 

 la demarche arrogante, et le corps imployable ; pour I'es- 

 prit il I'avoit fin, profond, artificieux, dissimule, ambi- 

 tieux, aimant pen la guerre, avare, cruel, ingrat, et dont 

 la politique se trompoit souvent pour vouloir trop raffiner." 

 —P. 119. 



H Cappuccino Scozzese, di Monsig. Gio. Battista 

 Rinuccini, Arcivesc. e Prencipe di Freruco. In 

 Macerata, 1655, pp. 227. — I have not seen Le 

 Capucin E'cossais, but it is probably a translation 

 of the above. I find no politics. The story is 

 that of the eldest son of a noble Scotch house 

 being sent for education to Paris, and converted 

 from Calvinism to the Romish faith while a boy. 

 He goes to Scotland in disguise, and converts his 

 mother and brothers, who are turned out of their 

 house and reduced to extreme poverty for chang- 

 ing their religion. The author speaks of him as 

 a real person, who went back a second time to 

 Scotland, and was reported dead at his convent, 

 and of whom he thus regrets that he can learn no 

 more : 



" Come potro' creder gia mai d' haner proposto a i Ee- 

 ligiosi un' essempio, una norma a i Catolici, una mara- 

 viglia ad ogn' uno, se nel piu bello del corso s' oscura il 

 Polo alia nave, e nella calma medesima si perde di vista 

 ogni porto ? Ho trascorso un pelago di luce, e senza aba- 

 gliarmi resto smarrito fra le tenebre. Piango con lagrim© 



